The Last Dragon: Ron Stoppable
by Nighthawk
Summary: Nearing the end of his high school career, Ron's mystical monkey power is starting to kick into overdrive, but as the immortal bard wrote,There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.... KxR AU
1. ponderings of a pupil

Disclaimer: this was written to relieve boredom and the job I do in the military. No money is being made off this. Kim Possible is owned by Disney

The Last Dragon: Ron Stoppable

Chapter 1: Musings

Deep in the mountanious regions of Japan, the sensei of the Yamanuchi ninjitsu school was meditating on how fate's twists and turns had delivered the chosen one when the Lotus Blade, the keepsake of the venerable school, was under threat by a man whose choices led him down the twisted path of iniquity. Though Monkeyfist was quite powerful, Stoppable-san was up to the task, suprisingly fighting quite well with little to no training, against an opponent that had at least 20 years martial arts experience.

Focusing on his meditation and his Ki, the sensei started to astrally project himself to the higher planes of existence to converse with the senseis that had come before him. As he arrived, he was greeted by one of the senseis who had passed before him.

"greetings young tiger, Lord Toshimaru has awaited for your coming, please come into the council hall."

"Hai, Mantis-sama."

Each sensei here was a master at one particular form of fighting. Named after their fighting styles, each sensei was the consumate master of their particular style. Following Mantis, Sensei saw Lord Toshimaru sitting in a lotus position, a serene smile on his face. Without opening his eyes, he spoke, "The chosen one has been found." It was worded as statement, not as a question.

"Hai, honored one. The beatific power of the heavens flow through him as pure water through ice, it is a part of him, yet sepaeate. Quite curious that the power has chosen him, even though he rejects it. The concept is quite refreshing." Sensei told the elder spirit.

"What of his training, little tiger? Where does the young one stand?" Toshimaru inquired.

"He plays the role of the monkey to the proverbial T, great one. Routinely, he plays the fool or distraction to the one he loves; Stoppable-san rarely uses the great power, but when it manifests it is like a tsunami, raging and furious. His summer here was very productive. He has learned everything but the sen-pun-kai technique. I taught him the theory on why it existed, but only to recognize it, not to use it." Sensei said looking to the eyes of the founder.

"I hope young Stoppable finds the final level, I sense that his greatest test is going to unfold…" Toshimaru said, his trailing off a signal to Sensei that he was dismissed.

Returning to his body, Sensei rose from his meditation, refreshed. Sedately, he walked down the gravel path to the temple, hoping that his greatest protégé wasn't in trouble.

"Man I am so dead!!!!" said Ron Stoppable as he was sprinting through the halls of Middleton High. Running as though the hounds of hell were hounding him, Ron looked up at one of the clocks he passed and saw that he had 10 minutes to get to his locker and then to algebra, all without Mr. Barkin catching him and giving him the customary punishment of an overwhelming amount of homework. As crowds of teenagers flocked with their respective cliques over to classes or hangout spots, Ron slunk through D-Hall to take a shortcut to his locker. Getting there, he didn't see his best friend, and world saving heroine Kim Possible come up behind him. Going to tap Ron on the sholder, Kim was surprised when his hand shot out and grabbed hers.

"Ahhhh! Ron, what are you doing?" she said, a little spooked by his sudden reaction.

Ron spun around, a look of mild shock on his face. Meanwhile his school supplies scattered from his backpack.

"Kim, you know you shouldn't do that, I spook too easily. You know that." Ron said, in a whiny tone,as he was going down to pick his stuff up off the ground.

Kim rolled her eyes at her friend, but sympathized with him. "Fine. Don't forget your algebra book, or Barkin will eat you like you eat Nacos! She said, walking away from him.

"I won't forget KP!" Ron yelled, continuing to pick up his things when the bell rang. Looking up at the evil time piece that signaled his tardiness with exasperation, Ron picked up his backpack and trudged off to algebra class knowing that he was going to be having extra homework. Passing D-Hall, Ron heard some deep chuckling and a panicked yell. Seeing that he was already late, Ron decided to investigate. Silently as his training allowed him to, Ron stealthly went down the hall, where he saw 3 people; 2 large, thuggish looking guys and their intended victim.

The two attackers were known notoriously as "Iron" Mike Thompson and Eddie "the hammer" Nelson, and both were inching ever closer to a guy no older than 14.

"Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you." The boy cried, feeling very trapped. Mike got into the kid's face.

" This is our turf, ya little punk." Mike growled.

Eddie popped into the conversation with a weasley whine, "Since you came here without permission, you need to pay a toll. If you don't have the money, we'll beat it out of you until you give it to us!"

Seeing the boy cowed in fear, Ron was fed up. Pick on him, that was okay. Pick on someone defenseless, that was up in Ron's redzone in his book. Walking up to them with a purpose, grabbing the two thugs, and spinning them around, Ron said without inflection or emotion, "Leave him alone if you know what's good for you"

Staring at Ron incredously for an instant, both guys started to laugh. "You? Order us? Who do you think you are?" The humor of the moment left their eyes, only to be replaced with malice. Grabbing Ron by each sholder, he seemed unphased by the turn of events. Without warning, Ron wrapped an arm around the ones that were grabbing him and kicked both of the thugs in the face. Finishing up with a backflip and being released from the guys' respective grips, he landed on his feet in a relaxed fighting stance, while Mike and Eddie were holding their faces. Reorienting themselves, Mike sprinted at Ron and tried to spear tackle him, while Eddie slipped a brass knuckle from his pocket. Seeing the attack, Ron jumped and kneed Mike in the solarplexus, knocking the wind out of him. Adding insult to injury, Ron drove his right elbow into Mike's neck, rendering him unconcious.

Eddie, seeing the unfortunate turn of events, was worried about what was happening. Ron Stoppable just leveled one of the bigger bullies in the school, without breaking a sweat. Eddie just assumed that all the hanging out with the Possible chick, he learned a few moves. Eddie thought he was better than the guy that he picked on for 3 years.

"Hey Stoppable! I'm gonna kick your ass and wipe the floor with you."

The sophmore boy had long since run off, so Eddie wanted someone to beat on and Stoppable was a valid target. Brandishing the brass knuckles, Eddie got into a boxer's stance, while Ron was standing over Mike's unconcious form, contemplating his choices

_Sensei told you never to use his teachings for vengance! _His conscience told him.

_They were going to hurt him without provocation._ He responded with anger.

_Well the cat's out of the bag now, so you deal with the consequences. _Ron's conscience responded.

Walking up to Eddie, Ron issued an ultimatium to him. "Leave or end up like Mike."

That set Eddie off. Coming at Ron with a flurry of punches, he was sure that at least a couple of lucky hits would put out Stoppable cold. Imagine his amazement when Ron had dodged all of them and sidestepped out of the way. Getting frustrated at Ron dodging the punches, Eddie came at him with a Haymaker punch. Quick as a whip, Ron grabbed Eddie's fist, jumped and twisted in the air, landing behind Eddie and having him in a submission hold. Ron then kicked out the back of Eddie's knees, forcing him into a very submissive position.

"If I ever see you harm another person again," Ron growled, malice dripping from each word," I promise that you will pay in spades." With that final warning, Ron let Eddie go to take Mike to the school nurse, while he turned around to go to the algebra class he was currently late for. Neither party noticed the security camera or the blinking red light that was on it.

A/N I regret nothing


	2. he said what to WHO!

Chapter 2: He said what to WHO?!

Walking sedately to his Algebra class (he was already late anyhow, why exert himself...) Ron took a deep breath and opened the door, interrupting the class and gaining the attention of the very irate teacher. Walking in and past said educator, every pair of eyes took in his dishelved appearance as he took the seat that was left last, in front of Mr. Barkin.

"Stoppable!" he yelled, jolting the students into a ramrod straight collective. Except for Ron, who was still sitting comfortably, but alert, in his seat. "Why in the name of all that is HOLY and GOOD are you coming into MY CLASS 10 MINUTES LATE?!" As Mr. Barkin was starting on a roll, the telltale vein in his right temple was bulging and his neck muscles bunched up, swelling his head and neck, as well as turning them red, as his tirade continued unabated.

Ron, to his credit, withstood the verbal onslaught with a stoic look on his features, resigned to the major-league butt chewing that was happening. Mr. Barkin seeing the look on Ron's face, stopped about the quarterway of what was called the punctuality speech and asked the normally cowering teen, "What do you have to say for yourself? Why were you late?!"

Yet the response that came next was baffling to everyone, and with a shrug and a devil may care smile, Ron uttered,

"Because I wanted to be."

You could hear a pin drop in that class. Wanted to be late to any one of Mr. Barkins classes? The generalized thoughts that were popping onto the rest of the class was 'is he insane?' or ' Ron just pushed the Giant red button'. Kim was equally as baffled.

_Ron wanting to be late?_ she thought as she was processing the momentous occasion. _Ron knows that being late gets detentions and extra homework, but wanting to be late?! What happened that made Ron flip..._ Kim's mental gears working to solve her friends mental state.

Mr. Barkin's reaction was not as expected. Instead of a long lecture going into the virtues on punctuality and tact that usually ended with a weekend long assignment, his eyes narrowed and tunnelled into Ron, like boresights on very large caliber weapons.

"So you finally grew a backbone and took responsibility for your self, huh? Good!" Barkin slammed his meaty fist down on the desk that was in front of Stoppable, shaking the already unsturdy frame to the stress point. "It seems that your constant tardiness and general disrespect for authority has left me with one recourse, you are going to be my PT buddy."

That utterance, in the class' mind, was the end of Ron Stoppable. Since being a former Marine, Mr. Barkin took the worst troublemakers in school and PT'd with them until the poor sap was limp as angel hair pasta, or the person gave up and did something that made their mind snap. Ron was a dead man.

"Understood, Mr. B," Ron said. Bristling at the shortening of his name, Mr. Barkin turned around and began the lesson anew. Kim was looking askance at her best friend, thinking that his mind definately snapped. _Maybe the fact that it's junior year and his grades mean what colleges he goes to stressed him to the breaking point?_ she thought. Meanwhile, a sophmore boy was telling his story about Ron and the two bullies, with the students listening in or eavesdropping. One thought was weaving through all of the captive audience, _when did Ron stoppable learn to fight?_

Lunch at Middleton High was, as usual, a cavalcade of sounds and sights. Bonnie and her pack fully ensconsed at the "cool people" table, even there was nothing denoting that. All the different high school cliques mingling of causing animosity toward one another. Walking in through the double doors, Ron made a beeline to the lunchline, wanting to get in and out as soon as possible.

_'well it didn't help that you and Barkin had a tete-a- tete over you being late.'_ Ron's logical side argued, _**'OH, and having a helpless kid getting beat the hell up was a good excuse? Sorry Mr. B, I was late because I was beating the snot of two thugs, yeah that would go over well.'**_

Ron got his food, (or what passed for food, in his opinion,) and sat down at an unused table. While trying to decipher the contents of the latest abomination from the cafeteria, He didn't notice Kim coming and sitting forcefully in front of him. (Forcefully in the fact that his tableware rattled when she slammed down her books.)

"Did you completely slip a gear?!" Kim hissed, wanting to know what possessed her friend to take action against Barkin, while Ron was snacking on french fries. " Instead of extra work, you now get to suffer physically with Barkin of all people! what has gotten into you?"

Ron shhook his head, swallowed his food and looked at the outside scenery while talking, " Kim, Barkin has had it out for me since the percieved 'weird look' I gave him back in freshman year. I figured since that I was going to be late, I would own up to it." Ron shrugged. Looking back at the food, Ron shot it a disgusted look at it and got up to dispose of it.

Kim, not liking the answer that was given, gathered her stuff and continued to query him. " But what if you get hurt while doing this?" Ron shrugged again, walking out the door, "I'll recover, I always do. I'm your sidekick" With that, Ron strolled out with Kim walking next to him. Kim was still worried about Ron, and frowned about the sidekick comment. He was her partner, not sidekick."

"Well well, I heard your loser friend got Barkin's 'slaughterhouse' session as punishment for once. I hope he brought a box of tissues and a security blanket", a snobbish voice rang out to Kim. Turning around, Kim saw Bonnie and her entoruage walking toward her, haughitly and noses in the air. This grated on Kim, as the Co-captain of the cheer squad decided to brighten Kim's day, like napalm on a battlefield.

"What do you want, B?" Kim said exasperated by Bonnie's continued antics. "Well, K, since Ron is going to be chewed up in Barkin's meatgrinder, He won't be needed this weekend at the competition in Upperton this weekend. "Ron is going to be okay, you'll see." Kim said, but Ron took the wind out of her sails.

"Kim if Bonnie doesn't want me there, she has that choice. I'm not going." Everybody around was shocked silent. _Two bombshells in one day, you are on a roll Stoppable. __**Oh, shut up. **_Flabbergasted, the two captains watched as Ron nonchalantly walked away. Kim was really worried now. _I'm going to call Wade, because seeing Ron acting this way is really out of the norm!_ Spinning around, Kim glared daggers at Bonnie. " Ron isn't a loser Bonnie, you know that! When we were all trapped by Gill, he was the only one that beat him in his own environment."

"So what Kim?" Bonnie shot back. "He has an absuurd fear of monkies of all sorts, he runs around like an idiot on your 'missions' and is a coward when a garden gnome is placed within eyesight. He only goes with you because you have him by the short and curlies!"

"You don't know what Ron does on missions! He..." Kim was about to argue her point when Bonnie interrupted.

"What, tries to get into your pants?" she jibed, "Please, the constant looks that he gives you, kow-towing to your every whim. Even after Middleton Days, he was still around you like flies on crap." Kim blushed when Bonnie brought up Middleton Days. One of the unknown side effects was that she remembered the entire ordeal, even kissing Ron. She had Wade hack into Dr. Bortel's schematics library to find out anything on the moodulator. Wade told her that all it did was remove the inhibitions of the subject, not overriding them, as he tought previously. Kim and Wade kept that info safely hidden because... well she didn't have a good reason.

To Kim, it felt right to her. But after going beserk on the floats and nearly scaring Ron half to death, she had some issues to work through, thinking chiefly that Ron just wanted to be friends.

"Look, if he survives Barkin he goes with us if I can convince him. If he is dead on his feet, he stays, deal?" Kim asked, knowing that Bonnie would add something for her.

"Only if I can be on top of the pyramid **when** Ron can't go." Bonnie added.

"Deal" Kim agreed.

"Deal" Bonnie also agreed. As Bonnie was walking away to class, Kim looked back to where her friend was, hoping that he would survive the grueling workout that Barkin was going to subject Ron to.

up next: 1,2,3,4, I love the Marine Corps


	3. 1,2,3,4 I love the Marine Corps

standard disclaimer still applies...may get a little racy near the end...

Chapter 3: 1,2,3,4, I love the Marine Corps!

For Ron, the moment of truth was coming closer and closer like a predator for the kill. Since lunch, the myriad of cliques and other personages were either snickering at him (presumably for the proverbial bloodbath that was going to happen) or in pity to what his fate was to happen.

_'Jesus, I guess word does travel fast on the high school grapevine. I wish I could use it sometime...'_ Ron mused, seeing how his stunt in algebra class had already made communication records around school. Ron ignored the rest of the student body and held his head high, regardless of the outcome, he stood up to the man that regarded him as a slacker and he could at least say that he was the only one with enough backbone to do it. Making way to the locker room, Ron changed into a baggy white shirt and shorts. They were confortable enough for running, though that was what Mr. Barkin had last on the list.

A sense of calmness, a realization of the act unfolding in front of him and the sheer futility of running away from his problem, Ron organized his thoughts and meditated on the ordeal to come.

'_You must not forget your training, Stoppable-san,'_ the voice of sensei intoned,focusing Ron's conciousness even more. _'You have worked hard and made strides that made us most proud, remember that and you will master your destiny.'_

Ron took a few cleansing breaths, opened his eyes, and walked out to the field where his educator and opponent waited. Mr. Barkin was already waiting, various instruments of Physical education strewn around him.

"Stoppable! Front and center, ON THE DOUBLE!" Barkin yelled, spittle flying and face going red. Ron ran as fast as he could and stopped in front of Mr. Barkin, standing straight and breathing rapidly.

Barkin bored into Ron with his eyes. " For being late, that's an extra 50 pushups!"

"Late! You said 3 0' clock in class. By my watch, it's just now 3." Ron said.

"15 minutes early to everything, Stoppable. You will be 15 minutes early to everything because 15 minutes early is on time, on time is late, and if you are late you might as well not show up! Now drop and give me 50!" Barkin screamed, showering Ron with spit and sweat. "Since I will be doing the same excersizes with you, it will not be 'hazing' as some people put it, but incentive training. " Barkin leaned in farther inside Stoppable's confort zone. "Afterwords, we'll see how much spark you have left." Barkin gave a cold smile.

"But..." Ron began. He knew that Barkin was trying to break him. Ron would not give him the satasfaction. Unbeknownst to the former Marine, Ron was in far better shape that he led people to believe.

"Do you want to make it 100?" Barkin asked, getting into a pushup position.

"No..." Ron started to get in the same position.

"No, what" Barkin growled.

"No, Sir." Ron mumbled.

"UP!" Barkin yelled, Ron following along.

"READY! EXERCSIZE! 1,2,3, 1! Count along Stoppable, unless you want to do it again?" Barkin stopped, looking at Ron. Ron, just looked back, glaring at his chief oppressor for over 2 years, not showing an iota of despair.

"READY! EXERCSIZE! 1,2,3, 1!" both men counted, all the while, Ron was thinking _'man this is going to be a long day...'_

Mentally preparing herself for cheer practice, Kim was momentarily interrupted from her musings by Monique. Monique was tapping her left foot impatiently, looking slightly irate at Kim.

"Ok, spill girl. What crazy thing happened to our boy Ron?" Monique asked.

"Nothing and that's the weird part." Kim said, closing her locker door and going to the gym, Monique following right beside her. "He just flipped out on Barkin, saying that he wanted to be late. Then he accepted Barkin's PT session, and I'm worried that he won't survive that!" the last part speeding up that it almost sounded like gibberish, as both girs walked into the gym, seeing the various girls practice their individual routines.

"Girl, hold up and slow down!" Monique grabbed Kim by the wrist and pulled her down to one of the bench seats sitting out on the gym floor. "Chillax, or you are liable to blow a vein, like Barkin is going to do. "Now, when have you known your lovable sidekick..."

"Partner." Kim growled.

"...Partner been whacked like that?" Monique quickly amended.

"Attidunator." Kim deadpanned.

"Oh, right. Well any other time that he was seroiusly going against his normal attitude?" Monique continued.

"After Middleton Days? He really wasn't himself after that," Kim said, thinking about the moodulator and her actions, but just as quickly banishing them to the back of her mind.

"Well the only thing that I could say is that something happened this summer. Since you guys had no missions, you went to cheer camp. Do you know what he did?" Monique was curious about that. Maybe Ron had an epiphany and changed his outlook on life?

Kim was asking herself the same question, what had Ron done over the summer?

Having ran ahead of Barkin wearing a kevlar helmet and flak jacket, idly musing on what the cherr squad was doing. Barkin meanwhile, was fuming mad.

_'I've thrown everything I have at him!'_ he thought. _'A 10 mile run, Marine Corps pushups, weighted stairsteppers, windsprints! Something is wrong, he's turned into a machine. I wonder...'_

"Stoppable, double time back to the gym. I need a sparring partner for the tri city kumite this weekend." Barkin ordered, catching up to Ron.

Ron turned around and faced Barkin, "Are you sure that's allowed? I mean isn't there rules about this sort of thing? Students fighting teachers doesn't sound kosher to me."

"Let me handle that. I have something to make it sweeter. You beat me in an honest fight, I lay off you for the rest of your time in school, except for your normal workload from my classes. No more riding you, or picking you out. It's done. I've seen clips of your antics with Possible. I know that you can at least fight back somewhat."

"If I lose?" Ron asked, worrying about the answer.

"You are mine." Barkin grinned, like the cat catching a canary, savoring the meal to come. Ron thought it over for a moment. On one hand, here was a release from daily torment from Barkin, his extra homework and detentions. The other hand, it flirts dangerously with exposing his abilities...

"Deal." Ron said, holding out his right hand.

"Agreed." Barkin said, shaking Ron's hand, putting pressure on it. Ron, noticing that Barkin was trying to overpower him, squeezed back, Barkin's hand strength lacking against Ron's, both men locking stares at each other. Releasing each other's firm grip, Ron ran back to the gym to get ready, while Barkin with his right hand starting to hurt, had the first sliver of doubt lance through his mind for many a year.

Back at in the gym, Kim was getting tired of Bonnie stealing all her thunder throughout the practice, throwing snide remarks at Kim, derisively insulting Ron and his lack of a chance to survive Barkin. Currently, Bonnie was rearranging the cheer routine for the cheer competition that was happening this weekend. It was a coulpe of days away, but the routine needed some polishing.

"Okay. We have our base and second tier. Tara and Hope are on the third tier, and I'm on the apex!" Bonnie snippishly said to Kim, who was looking over the pyramid for weak points. She rolled her eyes and Bonnie's antics to usurp the captainship of the team. Kim looked at the height of the formation, looked back at Bonnie, and shook her head.

"Bonnie, the third tier is too high. You won't be able to make it." Kim said honestly. "You'll knock into Tara and topple the whole thing."

"Tcha! So you think," the pompous heiress replied, not worrying about the height of the pyramid. " I can do just as well as you can. Stop the stalling. Are you this bad on missions?"

"What do you know about the missions that I go on?" Kim heatedly retorted.

"Yeah, stuck to your hand for a day, remember? I try to forget that." Bonnie remarked.

Kim looked away, aggrivated by her royal snottiness, when the Kimmunicator beeped its familiar tone. As she was turning to take it out of her bag, there was a crash and loud, protesting voices. Turning around again, the entire formation was a heap of limbs, with Bonnie screaming for everybody to get off her.

"Take five, girls. Get some ice packs for those bruises, Bonnie!" Kim tittered as she picked up the Kimmunicator. Smiling at Bonnie's miscalculation, Kim keyed the transmit/recieve button and saw on the mini LCD screen her tech guru and web manager, Wade Load.

Wade was different than his usual chubby self. His mom started him on a diet and excersise regimen over the summer and it paid off. No longer was Wade his hefty self, but a slightly slimmer, more toned version.

"Hey Wade, what's the sitch? Kim asked. Wade took a long gulp from his super slurp. It seemed that his mom wasn't able to break that particular addiction.

Smiling, Wade answered, "Nothing much, though we did get a hit on the website asking for 'security consultations'. The client is a cybernetics lab that deal with replacement limbs and regrowth of neural pathways.It's some really cutting edge stuff."

"Sounds like it. First of all, who is asking for us and second why?" Kim queried.

"The second question first. The reason being that you and Ron have the most experience defeating exotic security systems..."

"With your help." Kim added.

"...with my help, they wanted to make a comprehensive security net that would discourage industrial espionage, or certain unmentionable people." Wad ended.

"So from like Dr. Drakken and such?" Kim shot off.

"and others. Do you want to know who asked for you?" Wade asked, starting to fidget in his seat. Kim nodded her head.

"Dr. L. Renton. Felix's mom! The reason for this is because she wants to give the latest research to Felix so that he could walk again. But, she doesn't want the villan community to find out."

"Why is that?" Kim asked looking around the gym, seeing the cheer squad relax and talk.

"With the excess neuropathways, henchmen could react faster and be more aware. the cybernetic replacement limbs could increase someone's strength by an order of magnitude." Wade said in awe.

"Teenspeak please." Kim asked.

"It means combined, you would be dealing with people that had ten times their strength and quicker reactions, not a good combinations if you ask me."

"Don't think so either. Tell her that we'll be going for the lab this weekend. Have the entire security staff waiting. Going off on a tangent here, have you noticed that Ron has been acting weird?" Kim asked her tech guru. Wade just cocked his eye brow at her. "Okay, weird for Ron." Kim added.

"Not really. I've monitered him and his biometerics, body chemistry, and brain patterns. Nothing happened to him over this summer that was extraordinary... except," Wade typed on his keyboard and a screen came up with biometeric readings dated a week before school started. Wade came over the speaker of the Kimmunicator explaining his findings. " Ron was doing something, I don't know what, when his brainwaves went off the charts for about 3 seconds. Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Theta waves were converging, then back to normal."

" I take it that's not supposed to happen?" Kim said rhetorically. "Was it the Mystical Monkey Power?" Kim lowered her voice. "Was it Zorpox?"

"Neither, I have Ron's brain patterns when either the MMP or Zorpox is active. Neither of these patterns were present. What do you think we should do?" Wade asked, perplexed at the readings on the screen.

"Send a copy of the readings to my Mom. With her being a neurosurgeon, she'll know what to do." Kim ordered.

"Sent. I'll keep an eye on Ron for you and see if anything turns up."

"Please and thank you" Kim said sweetly. As she was disconnecting from the call, the doors to the gym opened up and let a blast of afternoon air in. Walking through, A figure with a shirt over their head walked toward the boys locker room, across the gym. Time seemed to slow down for Kim, as she took in the sight of a boy, almost a man. walking passed her.

His arms were tight like steel cable, his torso toned, with a little amount of fat to soften the definition around the abs, Legs that were like tree trunks, covered by shorts that were a little loose the midsection.

The girls just stopped. Bickering, complaining, whatever it was, stopped. 12 sets of eyes focused on the retreating figure. As the boy walked through the door to the boy's locker room, time sped up again.

Whispers of "who was that?" and "where does he live" percolated through the area that the girls were in. Most of them were getting ready to investigate, when the doors opened up again, this time Barkin coming through with a smug look on his face. This killed the adventurous and amorous mood that most of the girls were caught in, Kim and Monique included.

"Ladies, are you done in here?" Barkin questioned, trying to come off polite, but succeding to come off as brash. Taking the subtle hint, the cheer squad gathered their things and walked out, grumbling about the oppression of the teachers and such other trivial matters.

Monique, walking out with Kim, had a light go off in her head. "Kim, lets watch what happens from under the bleachers. It has to be good if Barkin is kicking the squad out!" Agreeing to the plan, Kim and Monique darted from the door to the bleachers and got under the scaffolding, watching Barkin pace around.

After about a couple of minutes, The same boy that Kim mentally shut down over, walked to the center of the padded mats where Barkin was standing and stood in front of him. Both girls' minds grinded to a halt as what they saw percolated through their minds. Turning to face each other, both girls hissed at the same time,

"It's Ron!"

"Okay, Stoppable, Here are the rules. Since I fight full contact, we'll both be using padding. No groin kicks, breaking bones, throat punches, back breakers, kicking out one's kneecap, or breaking ankles. Everything else is allowed, understand?"

Ron looked at Barkin in bewilderment. _'where does this guy fight that requires those rules?'_ he thought. _'I fight much rougher fights that I have no padding for'_. Nodding his assent to those rules, both combatants went to the edge of the pads and got on sparring equipment. Both Kim and Monique looked on in awe as Ron took off his shirt and strapped on sparring gloves and boots, both colored blue. Barkin was sporting a red gi with a black belt, red gloves, and boots.

Both fighters got about a body's length distance away from each other, bowed and got into a fighting stance. Barkin was in a basic stance, legs bent and arms cocked in front of him. Ron on the other hand went into neutral stance, hands at his sides with his body cocked sideways away from Barkin. Neither Barkin nor Kim was confortable about that. Barkin, because he knew that Ron could snap into any style he chose, and Kim, because Ron had no defenses that he could block with.

Circling around each other, both men was eyeing his opponent with an calculating stare; sizing one another up; when Barkin rushed at Ron, clenched hand coming down for a hammer blow to Ron's head. With practiced ease, Ron moved abck about a step and a half, grabbed Barkin's forearm, and spun around on his left foot throwing him to the ground. Barkin did a complete faceplant onto the padded matting giving him "matburn" on his face. Scrambling to get on his feet, Barkin got back up into his previous stance, inwardly amazed that Ron knew Judo throws. Ron continued to lock visages with Barkin, who was inching ever closer.

Ron on the other hand was having the time of his life. He just pratfalled Barkin into the mat and was inwardly cackling madly at the red patch of skin that Barkin was now sporting. Seeing his opponent move closer, Ron quashed those emotions and readied for the next attack. Barkin got to within arms reach of Ron when he started throwing jabs, and hitting nothing. Ron was avoiding the punches for them to connect and was moving out of the way. A plan started to percolate into Steve Barkin's head. _'I need to make him blindingly mad or scared to throw his focus off, but nothing distracts him except... that's it!'_

"Stoppable! Monkeys!" Barkin pointed in a random direction, mock surprise on his face.

"C'mon Mr. B, that was a good try, but I've already gotten over that." Ron retorted, shaking his head in slight disbelief. Kim, Monique, and Barkin (to a lesser extent)privately thought that getting over that particular was a feat in and of itself.

Seeing that didn't engender a reaction, Barkin again went on the offensive. Alternating between jabs, Ron moved into dead air where there was no threat. Barkin changed up to hooks intersparced with snap kicks. Ron bent at the waist and avoided most of the hooks, and changed into a handstand, blocking the kicks with his shins, then flipping back into his original stance.

Getting even more PO'd at this turn of events, Barkin racked his brain as he sized up Ron. _'Well since monkeys didn't do it, the next thing is to insult him and Possible, even though she is one of my best students.'_ he mused.

"So all you do is run behind Possible's coat tails, that explains why there is no focus on you. You are the side kick, Stoppable! An expendable asset, Possible doesn't even care about your feelings." Barkin jeered, throwing punches and kicks at Ron, who was blocking them deftly with parrying blows. "You stare and stare and you know that you will never attain her, because you are weak!" At that, Barkin went into a spinning roundhouse kick that Ron ducked under, only to be bearhugged by Barkin. As Barkin squeezed the breath out of Ron's lungs, he moved his head to Ron's left ear and whispered, "Just think, you will never be 'her first' only the best friend who gets to hear all about the experience but her memory will be with another, because you. are. pathetic..."

Ron's blood percolated at Barkin's words, not because of the sheer inpropreiety of them, but of Ron's secret fears being brought to the light of day.

"NO!" Ron screamed. He elbowed Barkin, grabbed him by the arm and tossed him clear across the mat, just to land hard on his back. Huffing and puffing, Ron switched stances to that of taichi, hands forming a circle and legs parted for a low stance. Barkin rushed at Ron, who gave Barkin a backhanded left fist, with a succesion of punches to the midsection and a bicycle kick to the jaw, making the teacher stumble back. Redoubling his efforts, Barkin came at Ron again, who responded with a jumping snap kick to the chest. Seeing Barlin stop mid charge, Ron added to Barkins pain with a dragon srtike to the stomach, a reverse ridge hand strike to his right armpit, and a leg sweep to drop him. Ron got back into his taichi stance as he saw Barkin kip up, face red from embarassment.

" Hit a nerve did I?" Barkin taunted. "I'll take it back if you beat me."

"It will be my honor." Ron growled

For the next five minutes, that mat was a warzone. Kim and Monique were amazed that Ron gave more than he got. Barkin was amazed that Stoppable got as far as he did. Trying to stem the power from Ron's blows Barkin was beginning to flag when he made a critical error in judgement that allowed Ron to get behind him. Seizing the opprotunity, Ron began to blood choke Barkin as hard as possible to cut the blood supply to his brain and knock him out. Barkin thrashed for a couple seconds, then collapased like a ton of bricks.

Ron got up and unstrapped the padding from his hands and feet to which he sat them in front of Barkin's unconcious form. Ron spoke, much for his benefit than Barkin's "You will take back what you said, and now I'm finally free of you" Getting back up, Ron turned to go to the locker room to change. Walking, he smirked to himself and thought _'and all that time they both saw me. well no use hiding it from her now...'_

Kim and Monique rushed out of their hiding spot to see how Mr. Barkin was doing. Kim checked a pulse point at his neck and found a strong slow pulse. Mr. Barkin started to groan, his head feeling like a timpani drum being banged on by a hyperactive crack-addled rabbit.

"Are you okay Mr.Barkin?" Kim asked, helping him to sit up.

"No, and what are you two doing here?" Barkin asked, looking at the two girls.

"Um, nothing?" Monique suggested, looking away toward the locker room.

Barkin deduced what had gone on and got up to his feet. "This was between Stoppable and myself. Clear?" he asked.

"Crystal!" both girls said and both were out the door. Walking back to Kim's house, both girls were lost in their own thoughts. Ron fighting and winning against Barkin, keeping up with him during the PT session, and the biggest one, what set Ron off?


	4. is it better to suffer the slings

standard disclaimer still applies... second edit, though cajunbear, kudos in seeing my eventual plans.

Chapter 4: Is it better to silently suffer the slings and arrows?

Getting out of the gym as fast as they could, both girls were looking for their wayward friend. Finally exiting the school, Kim and Monique's shock at the admittadly awesome display of martial arts prowess that Ron pulled out of nowhere. They were looking around for Ron, replaying the fight, each in their own minds. Kim, splitting her attention scanning for Ron, walking toward her house by way of Ron's, and remembering the fight, got severely tweaked when Mr. Barkin's little monologue replayed in her head.

"How dare he say that about Ron and myself! I mean Ron helps me as a partner, not a sidekick. Who does he think he is?" she mumbled angrily to herself.

"The more inportant question is where did Ron get the muscles? One summer is nowhere near the amount to have muscles like that. Oooh to have muscles wrapped around me like that..." Monique slightly drooled at the memory. Kim looked in subdued shock, eyes widening and mouth opening slightly. Monique saw this out of the corner of her eye, mentally shook her self out of the self-imposed stupor, and gave Kim an appraising look.

"Girl, you can't honestly tell me that seeing kick Barkin's butt from here to the weekend, all the while shirtless didn't get you all HUTC for your man-friend. I refuse to call him a boy from now on! Woof" Monique said, with alot of emphatic hand gestures and a little bit of a glazed look about her.

"HUTC? What, hot under the collar?" Kim questioned.

"Exactly!" Monique triumphly pointed a finger into the air. "I'm starting to be understood, finally," she mumbled soon after.

"Monique, c'mon even if Ron did happen to turn more fit over the summer, he probably got a hold of a HenchCo muscle ring... right?" Kim asked, thinking that Ron couldn't hide being that cut from her for any length of time, could he?

"I saw no ring on his hands, plus he was wearing the sparring gloves. You can't fit anything else inside them. What about those moves? either those Spruce Leigh films actually taught him something or some doohickey from one of your missions got attached to his brain." Monique pointed out, being pragmatic about Ron's new attributes and prowess.

"Hmm," Kim pulled out the kimmunicator, and keyed Wade. Seeing her friend Kim began to speak, " Wade, two things. Tell Mrs. Renton we can do the consultation on the next sunday after the competition. Two, was there any readings that indicated Ron was not in control of his body in the last 30 minutes?" Wade typed in search parameters into his personal database. "No, it was all him. The only thing I have is a spike in activity across the board but then it tapered off."

"Can you track Ron down for me? Please and thank you." Kim said, ending the call. This brought a myriad of thoughts to the forefront of her mind. where did he learn those moves? When did he have time to train? When did he get _smokin_?

_SMOKIN? Where did that come from?_

"So it was 100 percent Ron, huh? well me likey!" Monique chirped from Kim's side, overhearing the conversation. Kim shot her a glaring look, silently telling her to shut up. Seeing this, Monique continued undaunted. " C'mon, you mean to tell me that seeing Ron in half his glory, fighting Mr.B and having won, didn't give you a reaction?"

Kim glared at her friend again. _'Of course it caused a reaction, that's why you are holding your school binder in front of you'_ a voice in Kim's head whispered, tantlizingly promising secret pleasures. _'You finally got to see what Ron was secretly like, and the fact that a "reaction" happened is a pleasant side effect. Face it Kimmie, Ron grew up, and you like what you see...'_

Kim shook her head violently to dispell those thoughts, thoughts that she thought were bottled up deep in her psyche as a recourse to dealing with the Middleton Days fiasco and numerous touching "incidents" throughout her missions with Ron. Kim was not big on introspective but she had to admit, her inner voice was onto something.

Kim's kimmunicator beeped and flashed a text message on screen, stating that Ron was at his house. Thankful that Ron hadn't gone off and done something bigheaded, Kim and Monique walked on. Kim enjoying the silence of the walk, Monique getting ideas turning in her head.

Ron opened the front door to his house. Catching his breath from sprinting all the way from school to his house, Ron gulped in a few breaths of air. "Mom, Dad, Rufus? Anybody home?" The house was dark with no lights on except for Ron's room.

Of course Rufus was home, he was laying up in bed, enjoying his soaps. Upon hearing his human's call, Rufus scampered down the trellis that connected his bed/enterainment area to the ground, and ran full bore down the stairs and climbed up Ron's clothing, perching himself on Ron's shoulder. Sniffing the air a couple of times, Rufus scrunched up his face. "Ewwww, stinky."

Ron smiled. Rufus pulled no punches when it came to the truth. Sighing, Ron plucked Rufus off of his shoulder and carried him back up the stairs, dropping his backpack at the bottom of the steps. "Where's Mom and Dad?" Ron asked, already knowing the answer. "Hnk, Hnk. jetplane." The naked mole rat answered. '_Figures,'_ Ron thought already scowling, _'probably gone off to some actuary confrence or to one of mom's top level meetings.'_ Ron got to the top of the stairs and walked to the bathroom. When he got in, Ron stripped off his matted clothing, depositing them in the hamper, and started running a shower. Getting in, Ron reviewed the extraordinary events that happened today.

_'Today just wasn't my day. First, it was Mike and Eddie. (I wonder if that kid made it all right to wherever he went to) Then to Barkin's class where I made an ass of myself and got the whole school talking about it, sideswiping Kim with the "I don't care about cheerleading" that was a SMOOTH move there, and finally giving Barkin what he wanted. Man I wish that Kim and Monique weren't there. Now it'll be impossible to keep this a secret._

Seeing the distress on Ron's face, Rufus got up on the edge of the bathtub, trying to console his lifelong friend and provider. Ron shut off the showerhead and began to fill the bathtub, so that he could take a bath. Relishing the heat from the water caressing his feet and the water level getting higher, Ron stopped the water half way up his calves. Slowly immersing himself, Ron hissed, oohhed, and ahhed, until he was well settled and relaxed. Head tilted back, He began to wonder if it was worth it. The constant jabs at his appearance, Bonnie crowing at him at how much of a loser he was, Kim never seeing him more that just her best friend. That thought tensed him. Barkin touched a raw nerve with that uncalled for comment. Ron turned to Rufus, seeing the confusion and worry in his friend's face. Ron sighed and began to recount his tale...

Kim and Monique, after walking for about 20 minutes, arrived at Kim's house. Waving goodbye to her friend, Kim opened the door, dropped her school books, and walked into the kitchen. Waiting for her was her mom, sitting at the nook, sipping some tea.

"How was school today honey?" Anne Possible asked, setting down a report she was reading.

"Eh, same old." Kim didn't want to tip her hand to her mother just yet about Ron and the weirdness that was displayed.

"Same old, huh? I wish I could say the same. I got a brainscan of an unknown person sent to me anonamously, that frankly has me stumped. The Alpha waves and Beta waves are some what above normal, but really threw me off was the Theta waves. We've only seen these levels in a state of intense meditation or of intense arousal. Either this person was 'turned on' as you kids say it now a days, or was so aware that this borders on precognition..."

Kim didn't hear the second part of her mom's explaination. _'Turned on?! I guess Ron left something in the dark when he came back from summer break'_ Kim's annoying voice said, with a hint of jelousy thrown in for good measure. _'Some unknown girl got to him and probably did "stuff" the entire summer. That's why he's mentally gone! IT happened...'_ Kim was starting to turn red from both anger and hurt. Her mind was going into scenarios where Ron was with other women and the only one that came to mind was that ninja, Yori. Still seething, Kim's mind started to work on a plan, ignoring the rest of her family that were coming in from the day...

"... and then I got home." Ron said ending his tale. Rufus sat in rapt attention, eating some cheese that he got when Ron paused through his recollection. He started chattering mole rat speak, Ron following every word, getting the jist of what Rufus was saying.

" No, I can't hide this from her, she was there with Monique." Ron sighed, "Man, this tanks. I want to show off, but, I promised sensei only to use my moves for defense. I know it isn't honorable to show off, but I just did that with Barkin!" Ron sat up, sloshing water over the tub, soaking Rufus. He started to chatter angrily, running to a hand towel and drying off form his impromptu bath. "Sorry, buddy. Just got a lot on my mind right now." Getting out of the shower, Ron went to his room with Rufus scampering on his right, and rummaged through his closet for the bo staff that was sent to him from Yamanuchi, as a reminder of how he saved the school from Fukushima and Monkeyfist, and to never underestimate ones self. Finding the staff, Ron rummaged some more for a pair of shorts and and a loose shirt. "Rufus, I'm going to the basement to relax. Get me if anyone calls, kay?" Ron asked as he was putting on his clothes. Walking out with the bo stick across his back, Ron collided with the doorjam and fell backwards. Groaning about the abysmal luck that he had today, Ron got back up and finally got through the door.

Rufus was really worried now. Ron only practiced to clear his head, which amounted to exhausting himself out with Kata's and practice on what Rufus called the target machine. Nestling back into his spot, Rufus continued his watching of soaps, keeping an ear out for anything out of the ordinary.

Opening up the door to the basement, Ron turned on the lights and walked downstairs. The few lights that were down there illuminated a washing machine, dryer, and heating unit on one side of the room. The other side was totally different. Using the somewhat large amount of money he managed to save from the Naco royalties, Ron bought a close quarter trainer for blocking and close in punching, a multiple engagement machine which looked like three pillars up to chest height placed at each apex of an equilateral triangle, intersparsed with white plastic rings on each pillar, connected to a LCD screen, and a mat to practice katas on. Ron went to the multiple engagement machine and stood in the center of the three pillars. hitting a pressure activated switch, the LCD screen lit up with time elapsed and targets hit. Centering himself, Ron waited for the tone to begin. Maybe he could excersise his worries out of himself.

Kim's mind was made up. After hearing her mom talk about Ron's scan like that, there were words to be exchanged with Ron. Getting into some comfortable sweatbottoms, sweatshirt, and putting her hair into a ponytail, Kim was on her way out the door. "I'm going to Ron's!" she yelled out, to nobody in particular. Walking out the door and down the street, she made it to Ron's in no time. Seeing no other lights on in the house, Kim walked around the perimeter. Seeing Ron's bedroom light on, she leaped up onto the tree that was near there and onto the roof below. Bounding and leaping up to the window, Kim saw Rufus sound asleep in his nest with the tv on. She rapped on the window, waking Rufus from his reverie. Head darting left then right, Rufus saw Kim at the window and scampered over to it, unlocking it for her.

"Thanks Rufus." Kim said, rubbing the small rat's head. "How is Ron doing? No parents home?"

"Hnh, really sad. parents jetplane." Kim could just make out above the squeaking. So Ron was alone, except for Rufus of course. "Can you take me to him? I'll get you smoked cheddar..." Kim knew that this was low bribing a rat, but she really needed to talk to Ron. Thinking about it for a second, Rufus agreed to the deal and scampered downstairs.

_'Playing videogames at this time of night? C'mon Ron, you know better than that.'_ Expecting Ron to be vegging out in front of the TV playing one of his zombie mayhem games, Kim was mildly suprised that the downstairs was darkened, with no sounds of video games going on. Following Rufus, Kim arrived at the basement door. Kim was going to ask Rufus what was going on, when he heard the sound of hard wood impacting on something. Starting to go for the door, Rufus started chattering almost incoherantly and gesturing wildly. Kim got the gist that while Rufus did take her to Ron, she did not ask to be next to him. _'to be outsmarted by a rat, wow,'_ Kim thought to herself. She ignored Rufus' continued warnings and opened the door. Hearing the telltale impacts of wood against plastic, Kim crept down to the source of the sounds, keeping to the shadows.

What she saw next was put into the realm of the kind of display that Ron had given to Barkin. Ron had a staff in his hand and was furiously moving to the targets that Kim saw lighting up in random formations. Furiously connecting the bo staff with eack target, Ron was progressively striking faster and faster, until two targets showed up at the same time. Ron threw his staff one direction to hit the target, and a side kick to connect with the other one. He continued until the complexity of the targets caused him to miss the final target and end his session. Falling to his knees panting, Ron hung his head, gulping in the cooling air into his lungs and strained body.

Kim was speechless. She looked to the LCD screen that was attached to the machine and saw that Ron had connected sucessfully 89 out of 90 times, with a multiple of 16 at the end of it. _'I wonder what that means'_ Kim asked herself. Kim slowly walked down the stairs, careful not to disturb Ron.

"I know you're there Kim. You don't need to skulk around." Ron said, looking up into Kim's green eyes, hers staring into his chocolate brown ones. Knowing that she was made, she crept down and walked into the light, sitting next to him.

"What is this stuff?" Kim asked looking around the impromptu dojo that was set up in the basement.

"Training aides that I bought on Sensei's request." Ron answered. In truth, Sensei discreetly ordered these for Ron, with the young ninja footing the bill.

"Why haven't you ever shown these abilities before? I mean it looks like you could wipe the floor with any henchman and maybe even Shego..." Kim went on getting a little aggrivated that Ron would keep this from her.

"Because there has been no need to use it, Kim." Ron said, getting up and putting the staff up against the wall. "I would rather keep the villans that we fight on a fairly normal basis thinking that you have the moves and I just run around screaming my head off and generally being a buffoon, as Drakken likes to call me." Ron scowled, thinking all the times that's happened. "Plus it pisses Monty off when nobody takes him seriously about me. I can use that anger to throw him off his game." Ron explained, wiping his upper body off with a towel. Kim just looked on, mesmorized by the thin sheen on Ron's skin, the tone of his muscles, the color of his eyes as he looks at her...

"You okay Kim? I mean you have been spacing out lately," Ron said snapping Kim out of her reverie.

She shook her head a bit to clear the cobwebs and resumed her train of thought, which was almost derailed. "Why haven't you told me about this? I mean I thought we were partners!" Kim glared, a little hurt that Ron had been keeping this from her.

"We are partners. What about you and Monique under the bleachers when Barkin and I had are impromptu sparring match?" Ron asked quietly. To Kim it was loud as a gunshot. She at least had the decency to blush a little.

"You know about that? How? I thought that we were well hidden. Even Mr. Barkin had some surprise when we helped him." Kim said, mildly suprised that Ron had seen them. Remembering more of the conversation that went between the two fighters, Kim asked another question, "What did he mean that you stare and stare?"

Feeling a mite embarassed that Kim heard that, Ron started to rub the back of his head and blush a bit. "It's a sticking point that I don't like to discuss." Ron said, his tone of voice denoting a finality on that subject. Kim's mind on the other hand shuffled that piece of information into the 'stuff that Ron keeps hidden' part of her mind.

"Fine, but answer me this hotshot, what happened to you? I only heard from you once a week over the summer, and you come back totally ready to rock. So?"

Ron sighed and got up. walking to the pile of clothes on the other side of the room, peeled off the gi bottoms that he was wearing, and rummaging through the pile for some sweats. Kim sat there, mouth agape as Ron's derierre was plainly visible through the black boxer briefs that he wore. She started darting her eyes around the room looking for something to distract her. _'oohhh, look at that! You don't see that every day...' _ Kim's inner voice whispered. _'Shuuut uuup! Ron is a friend, not a piece of meat that looks... good... AARGHH!!'_ Kim had to mentally snap out of her self induced stupor by laying down on the mat and looking up at the wooden ceiling.

Ron had just finished putting on his sweats when he turned around, seeing Kim lying on the mat, body language screaming that she was fighting an internal battle. Walking slowly up to her, Ron gently sat down and crossed his legs.

"Kim, I think that you need your sleep. You seem really agitated now." Ron said, attributing her body posture to annoyance of him. Kim huffed and nodded. Saying their goodnights, Ron walked Kim to the door and saw her walk off toward her house. Closing the door, Ron went back to his room, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Rufus, following him, courteously set the alarm so that Ron wouldn't be late again. He thought that his human couldn't handle the consequences of another late day.

Kim arrived back at her house with a couple minutes to spare before her curfew. Quietly shutting the back door to the kitchen, Kim was in the middle of locking up when the lights snapped on, revealing Mrs. Possible in the doorway, with an annoyed look on her face.

"Do you know what time it is, young lady?" she scolded. "Your father was about to prep a probe and drag you from Ron's. What have you been doing?" Mrs. Possible was tapping her feet expecting an answer.

"Talking about school. That's all, I swear!" Kim said exasperatedly. Mrs. Possible still wasn't convinced, but let the matter drop. Being ushered up to her room, Kim said goodnight to her mom and crawled into bed, after getting changed into her bedclothes. Snuggling up to her pandaroo, her subconcious mind drifted to thoughts of Ron, how much he had changed...

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the jungles of the banana republics, a figure cloaked in shadows, sitting in a confortable chair, watched a screen replay over and over. The scene playing could have been straight out of a hong kong action flic, except the setting was a high school hallway, not a gritty warehouse down by the wharf. The cloaked figure was staring intently at the main fighter, taking down the two boys without giving away any telltale signs of the style the fighter was using.

"It seems my esteemed advarsary has moved up in his training... the screeching of monkeys was heard in the background.


	5. Time to pay the piper

Chapter 5: Time to pay the Piper

Morning came too soon for Ron, as the first intangible rays of the Colorado sun filtered into his room. Not having a good rest, Ron had resorted to meditation to calm his mind, order his thoughts, and figure out what the heck was going on with what happened yesterday. Focusing inward, his thoughts became form, which was standing in a space between consciousness and subconciousness. In front of him was the Sensei of Yamanuchi, floating with an incandescent globe around his body.

_'Good morning Stoppable-san. I trust you have a reason for this meeting?_ The teacher asked good naturedly.

_'Sumimasen, Sensei,'_ Ron's form bowed, as was custom for a student to be addressing a teacher,_ 'I have a dilemma. At my school, I had prevented two thugs to hurt an innocent. Because of this, there began a set of consequences that when allowed, I chose to use the teachings you have bestowed upon me. I am sorry that I have dishonored you and myself from the promise you held me to by revealing my skills.' _Ron lowered his head, ready to accept whatever judgment that he was given.

Laughing softly, sensei shook his head. _'Ron-kun,' _he said, using the familiar usage of Japanese, _'you acted in the right way at the right time. You helped an innocent in a dangerous situation; there is nothing more I can say.'_

Ron was still concerned that he had betrayed his promise. Ron's thoughts were on his face, to which sensei wanted to relieve. _'Stoppable-san,'_ sensei said, reverting back to formal Japanese, _'Even ninja need to stop hiding sometime. You have not broken your promise, for you have proven yourself worthy. I release you from the promise you gave me.'_

Ron looked up in surprise, nodding slightly in understanding. Sensei motioned Ron to get up, and both started to walk an unending path that was inside Ron's head.

'_Stoppable-san, when you first came to us, you were untested. Yet you were willing, albeit reluctantly, to train so that you could fulfill a destiny that you had never known. You started down a path that you had no idea what laid at the journey's end, yet you still went. Why?'_

Ron shrugged. _'Because it was the right thing to do.'_

Sensei chuckled to himself. _'Yes, it was the right thing to do, not the easy thing to do. It would be easy to let Possible-san go on her missions alone. It would be easy to just let the various police agencies do their part. But you chose to help Possible-san, even facing the fears that have plagued you in your relative youth. You decided on the course of action that was right, and that has made all the difference.'_

'_But what about the fight with Barkin? Didn't I break a rule or something? I mean, I kinda broke out some moves that should better been left not done.'_ Ron asked, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous tick.

'_He was testing you. As a warrior, he noticed the change in you and wanted to see if it was a benefit. Though you coming in late and saying whatever you said to him also may have set him off.' _Sensei smirked.

Ron's face went red with embarrassment.

'_Stoppable-san, go throughout the day as you would normally. Soon someone will ask what you did while you were here. Tell them. Shed light on who you are now. Not who they wish to see.'_

Ron nodded, just letting the cryptic answer flow over him. Within a split second, Ron's eyes snapped open to view the sun slowly creep over his body. Looking at the clock, Ron saw that he had about a half hour till school, and he didn't want to be late again. Staggering to his computer, Ron checked his email. Felix had emailed him from MIT, stating that his year studying cybernetics at the prestigious school was cool, but that he missed Ron and the Zombie Mayhem marathons they shared. Not having time to both write Felix and get ready for school, he left the email for a later time.

Friday's are always the busiest days in the world. People rush to their appointments, classes, and meetings just so that the weekend arrives and parties could begin. Coming into the school, Ron was unnoticed throughout the throngs of teenagers scrambling to get to class, meandering with friends, or just existing against the pressures of high school.

Ron was walking his usual route to his locker, when he noticed Kim was waiting there, a pensive look on her face.

"Hey, KP." Ron said softly, walking up to her. Kim turned to look at Ron and gave him a heartfelt smile.

"Hey Ron. Sorry about harshing on you about last night. You got to admit, it's a pretty weird sight to see someone that you have known most of your life suddenly change appearance… that didn't come out right." Kim started to blush, but Ron waved it away.

"It happens. You don't look so bad either. That cheer camp really worked you didn't they?"

"Yeah, which reminds me, you owe me an explanation on what happened to the Ron I knew, and the Ron I know now. It's twilight zone weird, but in a good way." Kim shrugged.

"Thanks, I guess." Ron answered back. They both collected their needed books and went off to the first class of the day.

"I can't believe you did this without authorization!" Principal Lasseter yelled, her shrill voice carrying out past her door from her office, the people waiting outside looking on with curiosity. Standing in front and center at her desk was Mr. Barkin, having flashbacks of being chewed out by his sergeant. Eyes staring against a speck on the opposite wall and standing ramrod straight, he let the tirade of his boss continue. Of course, sporting a black eye; a welt on his head; and various other bruises that were covered up by his clothing did nothing for his case.

"Engaging a student in a full contact sparring match in which the school could have been sued! Having said student run that 'death course' of yours in body armor! This school-borne vendetta between you and Mr. Stoppable must stop! If it wasn't for your judicious teaching and substituting for all the teachers, you would be out of the school system!"

Principal Lasseter yelled, face turning red from the yelling. Forcing herself to calm down, she turned from Mr. Barkin to the TV that was currently playing a security tape. It showed one boy saving a younger child from two bullies, then mopping the floor with them. The screen blacked out and was replaced with another scene of the same boy accompanied by the man that was standing before her.

Seeing the images out of the corner of his eye, Barkin winced every time his body was hit, remembering every punch. His respect for Stoppable grew that day. He realized that Ron could have handed him his butt on a silver platter anytime he wanted, and he would have been in the right to do so, but Ron was restrained. The only time it seemed that his control slipped was when he mentioned Possible. Everybody knew that it was a matter of time before they finally got together, except for them. Hell, even Bonnie Rockweiller knew and taunted them for it. _'Well, love is blind, and all that junk'_ he thought.

As Principal Lasseter watched on, an idea popped into Barkin's head. An idea that was so outlandish that it bordered on insane. But what is the line between insanity and genius anyway?

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" Mr. Barkin asked, getting attention from her.

She grunted in acknowledgment.

"If I may, Mr. Stoppable has shown, in _exacting detail_, how proficient he is in martial arts. In lieu of putting this on each of our respective records, why doesn't Stoppable teach the younger students and whomever wants to learn martial arts, and I become facilitator of this Martial Arts club?" _'Plus it allows me to study what has changed in him'_

The principal mulled the idea around in her head, seeing the action on the screen. On one hand Stoppable was handing out what seemed to be indiscriminate justice to his perceived wrongdoers. If the medical reports were anything to go by, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Nelson won't be holding anything heavier than a pencil for a while, and the disciplinary meeting that was investigating how they brought weapons into the school made their lives bleak for the near future. On the other hand Mr. Stoppable was an untapped resource, able to wake up the young freshman to the reality of crime fighting. It's not glitz and kung-fu, but hurting and seeing the dredges of society.

"Okay, In lieu of Mr. Stoppable fighting, He will teach. You however are still under the axe. Any more outbursts from you and I dismiss you from this school. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Barkin said. Still looking at the same speck of dust on the wall.

"I gotta do what?!" Ron exclaimed. He wasn't even to his first class when Mr. Barkin intercepted him in the halls of Middleton High.

"I know, imagine my chagrin when it was given to me as a choice." Mr. Barkin said. Ron didn't need to know that it was him who suggested it. "You will report to the PE field after school to give your first lesson."

'_Man, first I get ambushed before English, now I can't go to the Tri-City Cheer Competition. This tanks…'_ Ron thought as he was walking to his locker. After getting his books for English, Ron got to his class and slumped into his seat. Kim, who had come into the classroom a few minutes before, saw her friend dejected and went to sit next to him.

"What's up?" Kim asked, worried that something had just happened to Ron.

"I can't go to the cheer competition. Barkin has me teaching a class on martial arts today." Ron said, morosely. Kim was dumbfounded, not having the words to verbalize her astonishment. Seeing the look on her friends face, Ron continued to comment on his future fate. "yeah, I know. Me, teaching? I guess the fight with Barkin really threw his mind for a loop, but in order to get out of being in trouble, I gotta do this." Ron lamented trying to focus on the lesson at hand.

Getting out of English, Ron and Kim went their separate ways; Ron to figure out what to teach, and Kim to figure out what was going on. Not paying attention to where he was, Ron bumped into the bulletin board, where right at his eyesight was a flyer stating that there was free martial arts classes today, taught by him. Shaking his head, Ron continued to walk on; having his worries compounded now that the whole school knows that he was gonna teach the class.

Walking to her next class, she walked by a throng of freshmen and sophomores engrossed in a tale one of their own was telling.

"… then they grabbed him! What happened next was out of this world! He jumped up and kicked them both in the face. Then he whipped out this weird Kung-Fu style and beat them up!" Around the boy, whisperings and mutterings of approval filtered into Kim's ears. Hearing this, she walked up to the boy.

"Excuse me, but who are you talking about?" Kim asked. The boy whipped around and his eyes grew wide.

"Uh…Ron Stoppable." The boy said meekly. He started to turn away from Kim when she caught and spun him around to face her.

"Tell me everything that happened." She ordered, the look in her eyes not allowing for excuses.

The school day came and went, as all days are apt to do. Ron found himself wondering what he did in past lives to deserve this punishment. Dressed in a light shirt and sweats and carrying a couple of watermelons from the cafeteria, Ron waited for his first class. Part of him was dreading what may happen, the other part was excited because it meant that he didn't need to hide some of his ability. Looking at the clock on the scoreboard, the time just turned 3:00. Ron looked around, saw nobody coming and started to gather his school gear, when he heard giggling and raucous noises coming his way. Curious, Ron waited, to see a group of about 30 people coming his way. Within the group, Ron saw the boy that he helped save. He also saw a good chunk of freshmen, Monique, and to his surprise, Kim! _'Oh boy, I'm in for it now…'_

When the last of the kids arrived and sat down around Ron, he put the watermelons down, stood up, and looked at the small congregation around him.

"Hello all. If you don't know who I am, I'm Ron Stoppable. I am here today to teach you some martial arts." Ron said, staring ahead into nothing, like he was giving a lecture in class. One of the girls stood up, looking at him.

"Can you teach us how to beat people up?" the girl asked eagerly. Most of the other kids nodded eagerly, wanting to learn how to kick butt. This shook Ron out of his stupor as he looked askance at the girl.

"Beat people up?" Ron asked, somewhat surprised that the question was asked. "Well, I think a shortened explanation is required. See, the martial arts were founded to protect the people who couldn't protect themselves, or who were not allowed to have weapons."

"Kinda like you and Kim Possible!" one of the freshmen piped up. Ron nodded at the answer. At the same time, at the back of the group, Kim and Monique smiled. _'At least someone has the right idea about this'_ Kim thought.

"Exactly! But first you have to work on control and form before adding power. To demonstrate this concept, we'll be studying Tai Chi. This form allows a person to focus and bring themselves into balance, while strengthening their body at the same time." Ron said, indicating every should get up. Kim, along with most of the group looked quizzically to Ron.

"Not to be rude," another boy said, getting Ron's attention, "but when are we gonna learn to do all the cool things you did when you fought Mike and Eddie?" Monique and Kim fixed their eyes on Ron, making him sweat a little.

"Not until you learn control." Ron said but the freshman boy just prattled on. "My mom does Tai Chi in the park with her friends and I have never seen her kick butt like Kim Possible. How is this going to help us?"

"Well, to illustrate my point, Kim would you like to come up here?" Everybody turned to where Ron was looking to see Kim Possible, looking a little like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights. Shaking the feeling off, she walked up confidently next to her friend and stood in front of the class. Ron then got a small pedestal from the field shed and ran back to the group, set the watermelon up on the pedestal, and walked up to Kim.

"Okay Kim. I want you to use your strongest martial arts form to punch through the watermelon, that's all. Understand?"

"Hey, no big." Kim walked up to the watermelon and got into a strong stance. She focused and gave the watermelon a strong punch, but what happened was that the watermelon was pushed off the pedestal and sent back about four feet. Many of the freshmen clapped, but Kim was wondering what had happened.

"That was one of the forms that you will eventually learn. Its name is Hung Gar. It focuses mainly on overcoming your adversary by force, with brute strength. Though if your opponent knows enough fighting styles, they could just roll with the punch and only have minor damage done to them. Hence you saw what happened with the watermelon." Ron set up the next watermelon and walked back to the group. "As what was said before, Tai Chi is a peaceful discipline, but there are times that it has been used for protection. The basic principle of Tai Chi is to use the pivoting motion in the balls of your feet, hips, and shoulders to transfer the power starting at the base of your stance through your entire body and ending at the knuckle of your fist. Now none of you will learn how to use this form until you are able to control your movements and discipline yourself not to use what you see lightly.

Turning around to face the fruit sitting ahead of him, Ron keenly felt the stares of 30 pairs of eyes on him. Focusing his Ki to drown out the distractions, Ron stood in a relaxed pose, focusing in on his breathing. Once he was satisfied with centering himself, Ron switched stances into a modified horse stance, getting situated to land his punch. All of a sudden, Ron pivoted his body launching his fist into the soft center of the watermelon through its hard carapace. Instead of punching through it like he intended, Ron felt the pieces of watermelon splash all over his body, seeing as how the watermelon had exploded when he was following through, as opposed to just creating a hole in it, like he did when he was training at Yamanuchi. Wiping the excess pulp off his face, Ron turned around to see the surprised faces of the class.

"Heh, that wasn't supposed to happen." Ron said rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well now that I've ruined our treat for this afternoon by some how blowing it up, you are all excused." The class started to walk away muttering excitedly about what they saw.

"Read up about Tai Chi for next week's class!" Ron yelled, hoping that some body heard him. Grabbing the pedestal, Ron started walking away when…

"Heh hum." It was Kim clearing her throat. She and Monique stayed behind, Kim tapping her left foot impatiently.

"Ron, what was that just now?" Kim said irritably. Monique just slowly started to slide away from the apparent fight that was about to erupt. She could see it in Kim's eyes. "I asked what happened over the summer and I got to see you beating up bullies, standing up and beating down Barkin, and now somehow exploding large fruit! I think I'm entitled to an explanation as your partner and friend." She huffed, exasperated from her mini-rant.

Ron looked at both Kim and Monique, seeing expectant glares from both girls. He sighed and started walking toward them.

"Fine, but before I tell you, may I ask a favor of you?" Ron said, looking into Kim's eyes. She nodded.

"Fight me." Her eyes widened at that. _'Ron is wanting to fight me?! I think he took one too many hits in the head'_

"Are you serious? Is this some macho thing that you need to do so that you can prove that you are better than me? C'mon Ron! I know 16 styles of martial arts and…"

"… you are too proud to admit that I may have some skill, is that it? Kim all I'm asking is a sparring match. Every time I went up against Monkey fist or his ninjas, it was just me reacting. I want to be able to say that I have some skill and that its not some fluke. You are the only person I trust that has the skill to allow me to do that."

Ron was looking down at his shoes. It was then that Kim realized that Ron was self-conscious of his new found skill and that it wasn't a fluke that seems to plague his life. From the 'dumb skill' to 'the Ron Factor'; not to mention the Naco money he got, then lost. It was always a fluke with Ron. Now that he had earned a skill he was proud of, he needed reassurance that it was him and not favorable circumstance.

Feeling sheepish, Kim got into the fighting stance that she was accustomed to using when she was about to fight Shego. Smiling, Ron walked a few steps away from her and got into a stance that Kim was unfamiliar with. Ron stood in a wide, low stance bent away from Kim and cracked his knuckles.

"Let's go."

A/N: sorry that it has taken so long. Being in a staff NCO position really takes its toll. Especially when I'm a corporal. Hopefully I'll be able to crank out more on ship. A special heartfelt thanks to those that have reviewed already.


	6. Kim vs Ron, Film at 11

Chapter 6: Kim vs. Ron, Film at 11…

"Let's go." Ron said, with no malice, though there was an underlying tone of excited nervousness. Kim nodded and set her face. No emotion would show, though inside, Kim was a bundle of nerves.

'_You do realize,'_ her 'voice' told her, _'that he has seen all of your moves and could probably counter them, as that demonstration showed us…'_ Kim mentally shook the thoughts and nervousness out of her head and started circling around each other, sizing each other up. Monique was sitting away from the two combatants, wishing that she had a video recorder to tape this. Eyes widening in a sudden revelation, Monique grabbed the kimmunicator and keyed the transmit button.

"Hey Ki… Monique?! To what do I owe the honor of you calling?" Wade asked, a little surprised to see her on his screen.

"Wade, do you have a record function in this gizmo?" Monique asked impatiently, looking back to Kim and Ron.

"Yeah, of course. But…" Wade got cut off by Monique's frantic turning of the kimmunicator to Kim and Ron.

"You better record this because I don't think you will ever see this again."

Saying nothing, Wade started recording what he thought was going to be the smack down of the century. Boy was he wrong.

Ron knew that whoever was going to throw the first punch would put their all into it. He really didn't want to hurt Kim, but he also wanted to show her that he could take care of himself in situations that she couldn't handle. Concentrating on her movement, Ron idly noted that she looked like a sleek feline predator, ready to pounce. He also wouldn't mind if he was going to get pounced on, though he would like the circumstances to be different. Seeing the telltale tightening of Kim's legs, the fight began.

Somersaulting end over end Kim quickly closed the gap between Ron and herself. Getting to within striking distance, Kim did a handspring and snap kicked her right leg toward Ron; aiming for his shoulder trying to knock him off balance. Ron put his left forearm up and leaned into the kick, bracing himself and pushing Kim off balance, toward the ground. Kim landed on the ground with both hands and her right knee bracing her, while redirecting the momentum into a side heel kick. Ron bent backward into a crab stance, avoiding Kim's foot. Seeing her left leg exposed, Ron kicked her thigh, flipping her over onto her back. Flipping back up onto his hands and feet, Ron jumped into the air, trying to land on Kim to pin her. Kim avoided that by rolling backwards and getting into the same 4 point position that Ron was in.

"Impressive, but you need to do better than that Ron!" Kim said, looking a bit worn.

"I could say the same thing; I at least got you on your back." Ron retorted, smirking all the while. Kim's face turned red. Both mad and blushing, she got up and brushed off a little of the grass on her clothes.

"You'll regret saying that, Monkey boy." She teased for the comment that Ron shot her. Ron's smirk fell away.

"Make me regret it." Ron said, taunting Kim a little.

All the while that this is going on, Monique and Wade were sitting in rapt attention, Wade snacking on some popcorn while Monique was in awe of the prowess Kim had, and what Ron had gained.

Both Kim and Ron were trading blows with blocks, not really aiming to get each other hurt. For Ron, this was heaven for him. _'It finally feels like I can protect Kim!'_ Ron thought excitedly. _'I only hope she doesn't take it too far. God only knows what would happen…'_ He ducked a spinning crescent kick that whipped over his head. He responded with a leg sweep that Kim avoided by flipping over it when her right foot touched the ground and used the momentum to avoid him. Kim came at Ron fiercely with a flurry of jabs, palm strikes, and uppercuts. Ron, on the other hand, deflected them deftly, except for the last punch, which he grabbed Kim and spun her around, putting her in a modified bear hug and restricting the use of her arms to get out.

Ron whispered huskily into Kim's right ear, not knowing that she had a sensitive spot behind her earlobe that he was breathing on.

"You know, I could get used to holding you like this," he boldly commented while Kim was thrashing about wildly. His comment finally registered and she stood stock still, acutely feeling Ron's arms around her. She finally broke out of her stupor, tucked down, and managed to flip Ron onto the grass. Kim got into the opportune position of rolling on top of him, breaking free from his grasp, and sitting on top of his chest. Having the wind knocked out of him, Ron needed a few seconds to recover. For Kim, that was all she needed. She grabbed Ron's left arm and tried to get him into a submission hold with Kim holding his arm fully extended and her legs pinning his chest so that he couldn't move. Ron, sensing what Kim was about to do, rolled right on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

"Do you yield?" Ron asked, happily. Though he was surprised how much of a fight Kim put up. No wonder when she fights with Shego, it looks like something out of a knock down, drag out kung fu movie.

Growling, Kim wasn't going to let anyone beat her, even though Ron was her partner. To be honest with herself, she was quite impressed that Ron could keep up with her. Then to have him whisper in her ear like that… that sent a pleasant shock through her body. Though her innate sense of kimness wouldn't allow her to be defeated, it felt good knowing that she wouldn't have to worry about Ron as much. Back to her present situation, Kim was still struggling to get away from Ron, when an idea popped into her mind. A crazy, underhanded sneaky rat fink of an idea, but a good one none the less. Kim broke finally broke out of Ron's bear hug, amazed that he had such strength, and shuffled away from him to get some distance.

Ron on the other saw this as an opportunity to press his advantage. Running to close the gap Kim had created for herself, Ron ran in a bull rush toward Kim. Kim responded by shooting a strong finger jab to where Ron's eyes would have been. Except Ron, at the last second, jumped into the air and flipped over Kim, avoiding the strike and getting behind her. Grabbing her shoulder, he got Kim off balance and pulled her in to an embrace, his knee gently on her lower back, arms around her lower sides and her pulled into what seemed like a dip from a tango dance step.

Ron was surprised and elated that his maneuver worked, but was worried in what he saw in Kim's eyes. Her emerald eyes were sparkling with thinly veiled mischievousness.

"So Kim, how did I do?"

While Ron was occupied with the situation at hand, Kim put her plan into action. Seeing Ron's hesitation, Kim's eyelids lowered seductively, put her hands on his hips, raised her head, and kissed Ron squarely on the lips.

Ron's mind, elated that he could fight on the same level as Kim, went into hyper drive and then into lockdown as he froze, basking in the feeling of Kim's lips on his. Since he wasn't paying attention, Kim got out of his hold, dropped to the ground, put both of her feet on his chest, and kicked out sending Ron flying back, having him land facing into the sky, the sun putting a myriad of reds and oranges into the air. Kim brushed herself off again and walked over to where Ron was laying, almost catatonically, staring into the sky. Giving him a cursory check to see he was alright, Kim put her right index finger on his nose.

"You did alright, though next time, return the kiss. Oh, I win."

With that, she walked off, putting a little more sway into her hips as she walked to where Monique was. Seeing her and the kimmunicator showing Wade in her hand, Kim picked up her gear and walked off, smirking to herself.

"Wade," Monique asked perplexed at what just happened, seeing Ron with a grin from ear to ear, and Kim looking like she's on top of the world, "WHAT in the world was that?!"

"Well, if I'm reading the readings from Ron and Kim's Bio-readouts from their chips…" Wade said, his hands typing on various keyboards and eyes flying from one monitor to the next.

"Yeah?" Monique pushed, wanting the answer as soon as she caught up to Kim and could blindside her with questions about what happened.

"Ummm…" Wade blushed, turning his skin into a dark mix of brown and red, "foreplay."

From a secluded spot near the top of the bleachers, a lone figure, camouflaged by the shadows from the setting sun and the announcer's box, spied what happened with the fight between the two friends. Chattering animatedly, the figure leaped from its perch, scurrying to its master, only a flash of a prehensile tail, giving a clue to whatever animal it was.

Monique was panting from running all the way to the girls locker rooms when she saw Kim coming out in her street clothes. Closing the door, Kim didn't see her friend until she was bearing down on her.

"Okay, what just happened back there was SO not the norm, girl! After all the guys that have tried to kiss you, you go and initiate for the first time! With RON! Your best friend and sidekick. What changed? … Was it good?" Monique was breathless after the torrent of questions that flowed out of her. Kim didn't say anything just yet, framing her answer, but frowning when Monique mentioned Ron and 'sidekick' in the same sentence.

"First Mon," Kim finally responded back starting to walk to the door, "Ron is my partner. Second, well…" Kim blushed, thinking back to the fight. "You know how a good looking guy gets us hot under the collar?"

"Yeah, you more so than me, and Ron fills that quite well if the peanut gallery may add." Monique quipped.

"Well, imagine for me the elation that I can cut loose with whatever I do and I won't hurt him. I couldn't do that with Josh, or Brick, or any of the other guys because they would either run away or get their ego hurt and try to outdo me, but not Ron." Repressed but excited emotion was slipping into her voice as the duo walked back to the field to collect their vapid-minded and totally flabbergasted companion.

"He respects me and knows that I am my own person and that whatever we do will not endanger the teamwork that we have worked so hard to build." Kim sighed, wistfully replaying the fight in her minds' eye. Monique saw the far away stare and pouted. _'If this is what she is gonna do,'_ Monique thought exasperated at Kim's antics,_ 'when Ron comes into play, I may as well find a large, heavy object to whap her over the head. This is ridiculous, even for her!'_ Monique looked her friend over for any trouble spots to fix. She saw one and grinned like the Cheshire cat when she saw it. Silently giggling, Monique walked next to Kim when she came back from her 'happy place'.

Looking to her left and seeing Monique slowly turn red from holding something in, Kim turned and faced her.

"What pray tell is so funny?" Kim asked seeing her friend almost doubled over in hysterics.

"Well," Monique breathed in heavily, catching her breath, "you either splashed a bit too much water on your face in the bathroom and it got onto your pants, or Rom must have really gotten to you." Monique couldn't hold it any longer. She started laughing like there was no tomorrow. This was prime blackmail material. Kim on the other hand looked down to where Monique pointed out her "problem" and her face turned red as a tomato. Sprinting back for yet another change of clothing, Monique yelled to her rapidly retreating friend,

"I'll make sure that he gets home safely!"

Kim was so mortified that she didn't hear a word.

Ron finally came to about 15 minutes after the "fight" had ended, and boy what an ending! _'I can't believe she kissed me, of all the dirty, rotten, underhanded…'_ That is when Ron's train of thought made a sharp 90 degree turn to the right._ 'She …kissed…me. She kissed me…'_

"BOOYAH!!!" Ron shot into the air about 10 feet, not realizing that his emotions were fueling the mystical monkey power maturing within him. Landing and panting slightly, Ron saw the silhouette of a female coming closer to him. Hoping that it was Kim, Ron ran with abandon to the figure stopping short as he saw Monique's visage as he came close.

"Thought I was Kim for a minute?" She asked.

Ron nodded, getting into lockstep with her as Monique led him back to the front of the school. He didn't trust his mouth to say the correct things at the moment.

"Look, Kim is a bit indisposed at the moment, so I'll tell her to expect you at her house for whatever "secret-spy" thing you both you have set up this weekend, okay? Though if I didn't know better, I would be suggesting that you both are going to some secret rendezvous for some alone time." Before Ron could argue that, Monique held up her hand for a reprieve. "I know that isn't the case, but if something were to happen along the way, I'm glad that you two have something in common." She smiled at him, putting Ron at ease.

"Thanks Mo. I'm just worried that I'm going to mess it up like most every thing else I've happen to do in my short, yet exciting life." Ron softly spoke, giving voice to the self conscious fears that permeate through his psyche on a daily basis.

Monique slapped her right hand hard on Ron's chest, breaking him out of spiraling down into another self-induced pity party. Her tone got a little rougher as she spoke her next words.

"You listen here Ron. I know you love that girl. Heck! You went to the Amazon to get her a rare flower so that she wouldn't disappear completely. You also saved her and the cheerleader squad from Gill and the crazed guy in the skunk suit! Stop bagging on yourself and get on with it. You apparently have a crazy grasp of martial arts and you would have won if Kim hadn't kissed you." Monique narrowed her eyes at Ron. "You did like that, didn't you?"

Ron had a goofy smile appear on his face. Monique nodded, satisfied.

"Good, let's get you home lover boy." Both teens walked home, satisfied at the events of the day.

The spy that saw the fight between Ron and Kim arrived at the lair its master was currently in, somewhere on the outskirts of Lowerton. Reporting in the gibberish that only his master could respond to, the monkey spy finished his report and went back to its cohorts waiting in the shadows.

Pondering on what the monkey told him, Monkey fist paced back and forth, upside down on the aptly named monkey bars that crossed the room. _'So my nemesis has gained control of his latent powers. Well in the local patois "I must step up my A-game." Time for my operative to get his revenge.'_ Monkey fist jumped off the bars and went to a computer console and punched in a code, sending a coded signal to a cell phone half a world away. Waking up to the tone, the figure read the text displayed on the screen face, read the message, and smiled.

"Now I can get my revenge on the outsider _gaijin_ and take my place back at Yamanuchi." All throughout the night, maniacal laughter could be heard from the room in a back alley motel in the heart of Japan.

A/N: won't be updating for a while. The military calls. I also apologize for not updating timely, life has a way of getting in the way.


	7. Cybernetics Akimbo

Chapter 7: Cybernetics Akimbo

Friday night and Saturday went too fast for both Kim and Ron. Kim and the rest of the cheer squad won the Tri-City Regional Competition on Friday, without Ron being there, which gave Bonnie the ammunition needed to needle Kim. At the team get together on Saturday night, the cheer squad went over what was done right and what needed improving. True to form, Bonnie unleashed her salvo against Kim the second that she had an opening on the topic.

"See Kim, that _loser_ was not needed at all. I'm glad that I proved Ron doesn't need to be on the team." Bonnie said snobbishly, rubbing the fact into Kim's face

Kim gritted her teeth. "_Shut_ up, Bonnie. Yes we won without Ron's help, but he is a part of this team. Why do you have so much animosity toward Ron? What has he done to you?"

"You really want to know? Fine, I'll tell you. First, he is a social outcast, but he still gets airtime with you on your missions; then he somehow knows kung fu and he's a teacher for after school; finally…"

Bonnie quieted down, almost as if the righteous indignation of the situation had left her of its own accord, "He's the only guy that has never paid attention to me."

Kim arched her eyebrow in skepticism, silently asking for her to go explain herself.

"For the three years in High School and all the times I bagged on him, he never once had the irrational wanting that most of the guys in school have for me." Bonnie sighed.

Kim knew that Bonnie liked to be the center of attention and to have boys clamoring after her, but this was not the Bonnie that Kim know and loathed. The rest of the girls leaned in; paying attention to the conversation that was going on between the co captains.

"Ron, having the money and getting the new hairstyle, I went for that image that he portrayed, and of course I dropped him the instant he lost those qualities."

"Of course," Kim retorted sardonically. "So why the putdowns? Surely you knew that it wasn't getting the right reaction in him.

"I know that!" Bonnie snapped. "But after he lost the things that attracted me to him, he didn't want me. Even though I was hanging off him and he loved it, he never pursued me after that. Can you answer that for me, at least?" Bonnie's visage was one of impatience and of confusion, if it was possible to combine the two.

"I haven't the slightest idea where to begin. After the summer break, Ron's a changed person. Fundamentally he is the same, it's just that his perceptions have changed, and for the better if any of the reactions were true when you all saw him walk into the gym on Thursday." Kim smugly reminded the team, to which she got blushes in return.

Across the city, meditating in his room, Ron was trying to come to grips with the actions of the past week. Delving into himself and quieting his senses to the world around him, Ron tapped into the mystical monkey power to converse with his sensei that was half a world away. His self-image was glowing with a serene blue glow, the only source of light in the "void" as Ron came to call it. Rufus was standing guard, by watching TV and munching on a particular good piece of New York sharp cheddar cheese.

"Sensei?" Ron asked into the void, hearing only an echo in response. Sighing in exasperation, Ron waited until another glow started to coalesce next to him.

"Stoppable-san. I heard your call and want to congratulate you on having a stable astral connection now. I still remember…" Sensei started with a tone of humor until Ron interrupted him.

"Meaning no disrespect, Sensei, but I have a problem that hopefully you can help me with."

Smiling at the unexpected interruption Sensei nodded. "By all means, ask away stoppable-san"

"As you may know, I sparred with Kim to get a gauge of my abilities so far. I was keeping up with her and slowly starting to get the upper hand when she did something that still confuses me…"

"Which was what, young master?" Sensei inquired.

_I really wish he wouldn't call me that…_ Ron groused. "Well, Kim kissed me."

Sensei stoically stared at Ron for about a minute, and then started to chuckle. This then turned into a guffaw. "Is that all Stoppable-san?" Sensei asked, getting a hold of his bearing.

Ron looked down, somewhat embarrassed at his confusion.

"Ron when you left the school you had gone as far as I could teach you. Your final test, catching the correct arrow whilst in the middle of combat, was the final indicator that you were in harmony with the celestial power. Then your spirit guided your actions, not your mind, nor your body. Do you remember what happened next?"

Ron blushed. "You ripped the dragon patch off my chest and I fell to the floor wanting to do anything to get back into your good graces."

"Which still gives me a laugh to this day," Sensei mused, "But what did I tell you?"

Ron searched his memories as he scrunched up his face, "That I had touched the final level, I knew without knowing."

"That is right. But you forgot what else I told you. To get into the final level you must embrace life."

"But I am still confused on how I get there…" Ron murmured.

"Good! Confusion is a part of life, so is vengeance, fear, and love. All facets of life must be embraced. Then, and only then, will you break through to the final level."

"Thank you Sensei. I am sorry to take up your valuable time." Ron bowed his head to his master.

"Not a problem at all, Stoppable-san. Feel free to talk at anytime." Sensei said, as his astral form faded.

Ron woke from his trance, got up and stretched. Looking out the window, Ron saw the last red and gold rays of sunset go over the mountains, painting the clouds with an ever increasing purple and blue, that gave away to the dark night. Walking over to his closet Ron pulled out a hidden panel from the wall and started to cloth himself with the uniform that was given to him from his graduation. Rufus was mimicking his master, getting into the same mindset and garb as his friend.

Kim was busy getting her mission gear together and mentally preparing herself for the faux "break in" to the Cyberwell laboratory. Seeing that she still had a couple of minutes before Ron showed up, Kim looked at herself in the mirror. Appreciating the fact that cheerleading and kung fu had given her an athlete's body, she mentally frowned at the lack of "assets" on the top half of her body. Not that she was vain or anything, but she cursed her genetics for 'lack of a rack'. Turning around and surveying her room, Kim grabbed the rest of her gear and turned off the light, when she noticed that her window was open. Walking over to the window and shutting it, Kim turned around and saw two chocolate brown eyes crinkled up like a smile with freckles under them, clad in a black ninja suit. Kim reacted like she always does when uninvited guests come into her room. Shooting her elbow out to catch her attacker in the sternum, she was stopped by his hand and was spun around, her other hand held to her chest.

"Kim! It's me, Ron!"

With that exclamation, she stopped her heel from connecting solidly with a very sensitive part of his body, waiting for the man holding her to explain himself. Slowly letting go, Kim spun around and pushed him away, getting into a fighting stance.

Putting his hands up, Ron took off the balaclava that was holding in his hair and covering his face. On seeing this, Kim slowly went from combat stance to bewilderment. Here was her friend/interest (though she wouldn't let him know just yet…) that was dressed head to toe in ninja gear. Trailing down from his head, Ron was wearing a black T-shirt that was being covered up with a tactical vest brimming with pockets. His pants were likewise black with a crimson red stripe going down each of the pant legs. Holding it up was a riggers belt, and his shoes were the black split-toed ninja soles. All in all, an impressive visage of stealth.

"Ron, what are you doing with all that gear on?"Kim asked, questioning where in the world he got the tactical vest, pants, and shoes.

"Just things I picked up in Japan, they sell a lot of this stuff for cosplay purposes, kinda like dressing up as their favorite characters. I just added some stuff to it." Ron shrugged as he turned around, showing off the suit. "You like?"

Kim _actually_ did like the change but the way he went about it still irked her. "Okay Fearless Ferret, what else did you bring with you?" Kim queried, knowing full well that Ron would play this to the hilt.

Ron started rifling through the various pockets and started taking out the various accoutrements that he had brought with him.

"Well, I brought some thermal smoke grenades, a collapsible grappling hook with rope, some kunai and shuriken, some knockout gas grenades, two gas masks, and a passkey generator that I had Wade whip up for me."

Seeing the small arsenal that her friend brought, Kim's eyes widened a little.

"Don't you think that it is a bit of overkill for those things?"

Ron shook his head, "Well, we are testing how the security is at Cyberwell, might as well take out all the stops."

Surprisingly agreeing with Ron's assessment, Kim picked up the rest of her mission gear and called Wade on the communicator. "Wade you up?" she asked. Wade's image appeared on the Kimmunicator

"Yeah Kim, I'm online and ready to give you an overview of the security." The screen faded to a satellite overview of the complex, that was replaced with a three-dimensional wire frame model. Red circles showed up on various points of the layout. "Here are the mesh pads that are set to go off after 5 pounds or more are put on them."

Ron spoke up, "Wade, are there any trees or anything that we can use to crawl over the landscaping?" Typing was heard in the background.

"Yes, here in the northwest corner of the complex. I estimate 50-60 meters from the tree branch to the roof of the complex."

"How about from the roof to the ground?" Ron asked again.

More typing. "About 10 meters, why?"

"I was thinking about a two pronged approach. Kim and Rufus go in through the HVAC ducts, while I pick the lock and make sure that the security guards are out of the way with the knockout gas."

Kim piped in, "How can you be so sure that there will be guards on site?"

"If you knew that people of Wade's genius were out there and could help anybody break in, would you trust an automated system to detect a break in?" Ron responded.

"No I guess not." Kim acquiesced, surprised by Ron's logic. "So while Ron is busy jimmying the back door to get the guards, what do I need to do Wade?"

"Glad you asked," Wade said, "I need you and Rufus to get through the ducting, avoiding the cameras and laser trip wires. I'm thinking that because of your previous experience going through ducts, these might be wired for motion or pressure, especially in the high security area." Wade explained this as his wire model followed a predetermined path from the air duct through a maze of tunnels and ending in the high security lab with the prototypes.

"Anything else we need to be worried about?" Kim asked knowing that this mission was going to be harder than she thought.

"Yeah," Wade said, "I've been checking deliveries to and from the site and it looks like the guards are outfitted with capture foam and stun batons."

Stun batons? "What are those?" Ron asked, worried about the answer.

"They are batons that carry an electric charge to incapacitate any intruders."

"Right. Avoid the batons. What else?" Ron asked.

"After getting through the security measures, the files that are integral to program the cybernetics are in the mainframe. Put the Kimmunicator on a terminal port and I will download the file to prove that we got to the mainframe. The actual prototypes are behind 4 inches of ballistic glass and need a passkey to get though, but if you have the lipstick laser, just cut through the glass and just leave the prototype there. That should be enough data for Dr. Renton and her security staff to use for updating their security measures."

Nodding to each other, Kim and Ron (with Rufus safely in Ron's thigh pocket) both got the rest of their gear together and made their way out the door and onto Ron's scooter.

A half hour later, and by getting a taxi (of all things…) Team Possible made it to the outskirts of a low key facility, a wire fence stretching along the perimeter of the complex, and a couple of light posts illuminating the guardhouse, parking lot, and front of the complex. The pools of light creating islands in the inky darkness of night. Getting to the position on the tree indicated by Wade, Kim fired her grapple gun, barely getting the grapple to the roof. After a few test tugs to see if the hook was secure, Kim tied the other end of the rope to the trunk of the tree. Giving thumbs up to Ron, Kim waited to see how far her partner could get before attempting to breach the compound.

Seeing Kim's signal, Ron opened up his thigh pocket and took Rufus out.

"Okay buddy, I need you to trip as many alarms as possible. Can you do that?

"Hem Yea!" Rufus squeaked while giving Ron the thumbs up. Jumping from Ron's hand, Rufus hit the ground and went underneath the fence gap. Scurrying and zigzagging looking for the pressure sensors, Rufus hit proverbial pay dirt when he happened upon a pressure mat about 10 yards from the fence, opening his mouth, Rufus chomped down on the mat, breaking the contact cord. Ron watched as about 5 seconds later, two guards came out of the guardhouse running and talking animatedly on the radio in one of their hands. Flashlights coming on, the security guards scanned the site where the alarm went off on their boards. Upon seeing Rufus by shining their flashlights on him, Rufus scampered away into the darkness, his job done. Returning to Kim's side, the pair sat and watched what was going to happen next. Kim was keeping a lookout for Ron but couldn't see him. She keyed her Kimmunicator.

"Wade, are you watching over us with a satellite?" she asked.

"Yes, do you need something?" Wade responded.

"Can you see if you can locate Ron? I can't see him from where I am"

"The best I got is grainy infrared, it'll locate him, but the image won't have any definition." Wade replied.

"Put it on." Kim ordered.

Wade's image was replaced with on infrared overlay of the compound. Seeing the two guards on the screen, Kim scanned the screen, looking for any sign of Ron. The two guards got back to the guard shack when she saw both of them drop to the ground. Grabbing her binoculars, she focused on the point where the two guards fell. Kim was going back and forth from the Kimmunicator screen and the binoculars for a couple of times, until she saw an outline dart from the darkness and onto the grounds. The outline made it to the wall of the building without setting off the alarms. Kim wondered if that was Ron, when all of a sudden, a series of flashes from a penlight signaled to Kim that Ron was in position. Mystified at how he got to that point without being seen on infrared or by regular light, Kim mentally shrugged and started climbing on the rope, while Rufus scampered unencumbered across, scouting if there were any unwelcome surprises for his friend's mate. (Even if both of them haven't said anything yet. He was getting particularly sick of the pheromones they spewed out when together.)

Hanging upside down, Kim saw Ron picking the lock and getting into the complex. She finally got to the other side of the rope and got onto the roof. With Rufus giving her the thumbs up signaling that she was good to go, Kim went to the A/C vent and opened the cover. Scampering into her satchel, Rufus waited to be needed again, enjoying a nap. Climbing down into the ducting, Kim keyed the Kimmunicator again.

"I'm in Wade." She said, getting situated to the small space.

"Good. I'm also in their low and mid level security mainframes. I've got control of the cameras, but I can't turn them off without setting off a silent alarm. I can still cycle them through, giving him some cover, but he'll still have to be careful…"

"I'm sure he will, just give me the best path to go."

In the security station near the front of the complex, the guards were a bit perplexed on the flickering that was occurring on the screens. On one of the screens there was what looked like a ninja running down the hallway. The next screen showed nothing. Shrugging and chalking it up to the late nights they worked, the two guards went back to solving the problem of the flickering screens. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door to the guard shack. Wondering who it could it be, One of the guards opened the door to stick his head out, and was promptly and expertly punched in the jaw, forcing his body to fall back and the intruder to enter the room. Reacting to the violent action, the other guard hit the silent alarm. Seeing this, the assailant palmed a throwing star and tossed it at the button, with the guard's hand still on it. Letting loose a scream and a whimper, the guard saw the figure move away.

Hearing a scream down the hall, Ron stopped sneaking around the cameras and ran to the source. As he walked into the security office, Ron was taken aback at what he saw. Seeing the blood pool around one of the guards and another guard knocked out, he got into action. Ron tore off a sleeve of his uniform and used it as a pressure bandage to staunch the bleeding. Before applying it though, Ron looked at the shuriken that was impaled through the hand and into the circuit board.

"Another one? Why are you here?" The guard asked.

Ron looked at him wide eyed. _Another ninja here_? He looked at the shuriken again and could see kanji written on the matte black metal. Ron realized that this "break in" was now a real mission. Seeing in how much pain the guard was in, Ron hit a couple of pressure points to dull the significant amount of pain that was coming from the injury. The somewhat conscious guard was getting on the phone to call the ambulance. As he was dialing, he turned to Ron who was heading out the door.

"Thanks for helping, but look out for your counterpart. His eyes had the crazy look about them."

Ron nodded in acknowledgement, then ran out the door, fear slowly gripping his mind.

_It's not Monkeyfist. He doesn't use shuriken, unless he's finally 'lowered' himself. But the Yamanuchi only disarm, not injure unless fighting comes to that. But the only person that had…_

…_I got to get to the lab before Kim does!_ Ron sprinted to the high security lab. Seeing the security system that was emplaced, shredded, like claws were used to gouge them. Fearing the worst, Ron was hoping that he wasn't to late.

A/N: sorry for the strangely long update. The unit's hours are such that weekends are now breaks. Joy. I thank you all for the reviews so far, and I'm hoping to get back in the saddle after being on ship on and off for a few months. If you thought camp showers were small spaced, you never had to deal with marines fresh out of the field and about 250 guys per shower to get done and changed in 3 hours. Yeesh what a day that was…


	8. Shurikens and Secrets

Chapter 8: Shurikens, sacrifice, and secrets

Making her way through the lab's ducting with Rufus' help, Kim navigated through the labyrinthian twists and turns to the target and to the end of the mission. Scampering ahead, Rufus was doing his best to search for any sensors that were attached to the inside and disabling them. If he couldn't disable them, he at least wanted Kim to know about them and their location. As Rufus was looking for more sensors, he also took the time to look through the vents into the adjoining labs, looking for any indication that his friend and owner had indeed made it past the security.

Peeking through one of the vents, Rufus saw a figure with a black hood trying to break into a case holding a metallic arm. Chattering excitedly, Rufus rushed back to Kim, who was just rounding the corner. Seeing Rufus gesturing wildly to follow him, Kim went up to the vent to get a hold of her guide and quiet him down.

"What's up, Rufus?"Kim asked peering through the vent. Turning to look at Rufus, Kim saw Rufus pantomiming a mask with his paws. Then Rufus changed gestures to look like he was breaking into something to get out what was inside. Looking back, Kim saw a faint outline of a humanoid figure just outside of the light illuminating the keypad to the vault, presumably where the cybernetics were kept.

"That has to be Ron in his gear. I think he is playing it safe, or waiting for us, don't you agree?" Rufus nodded his agreement to Kim's statement and waited patiently for Kim to open the vent. Kim spent a couple of minutes searching along the outside edge, probing with her fingers, until she found the latch and popped it open, easing the vent open in order to not make a sound. Dropping to the floor quietly, Kim was going to sneak up on the figure when the lab lights turned on and Kim found herself on the business end of spears held by a group of diminutive ninjas with tails poking out of their garb, and 10 large men with suits on that had no identifying marks on them.

_Crap_.

Indeed that was an apt statement from the teen hero. Turning around slowly, the figure in Kim's view with his mask on and walked up out of arms reach to Kim. The Asian man moved with an economy of movement, similar to a predator's. His almond brown eyes betraying no emotion except for disdain, focused on Kim and her frozen stance in the middle of twelve spears pointed at various parts on her body, those spears being held by small monkeys clad in ninja garb.

"Konbawa, Possible-san," the mystery man replied, still focused on Kim. "It disheartens me that your _sidekick_ wasn't the first here. I guess that his training still needs some work, or that his bleeding heart is treating the guards that I had injured in order to get here." Kim's eyes widened at the remark.

"Just who the hell are you? What do you mean, _injured_?" Kim demanded.

The figure turned around and went back to the keypad, trying to break through the lock.

"Ah! _Sumimasen_ Possible-san. How could I be so rude? My chosen name is Shogun, but your buffoon of a partner knows me as my given name, Fukushima. As of injuring the guards, I am a ninja. As such I merely 'neutralize' my opposition as fast as possible. If they expire because of the injuries inflicted on them, it was their time to go." Shogun said, having not the slightest pity about mortally wounding the guards. "I must admit though I thank you for joining me."

"Join you? How so?" Kim said, still on guard.

Shogun laughed. "It was I that went onto your website claiming to be Dr. Renton. Did you really think that she would endanger her work in a top R&D facility so that her 'security' was absolute? It was all a very elaborate ruse to get easy access without getting involved too much and getting much out of the endeavor, Thank you again." Fukushima bowed mockingly to Kim.

"C'mon, You?" Kim scoffed trying to buy more time for Ron to get to her, "It seems that you are another villain du jour…" Kim trailed off.

"Me a villain? I fancy myself a mastermind since you both did what I wanted you both to do. No mind chips or mind control soap. Just knowledge of what you would do to help a friend. I caught you and have the cybernetics close in hand. I believe I won this round."

Kim just looked at Fukushima in contempt, knowing that she and Ron got played, hard.

Finally stabilizing the guards, Ron was running down the halls following the schematic that he had gotten from Wade's files. Getting to the doors that were outside the cybernetics lab, he heard the sounds from within. There were two people talking about something important. Easing open the door as to not attract attention, Ron slid into the lab only to see that a black clad figure was talking to Kim as he was attempting to open the vault that probably held the cybernetic prototypes and files. He focused on Kim and felt a chill go through him, seeing the monkey ninjas holding her at spear point. _Monkeyfist had to be around here, but why would he have a top knot?_ _Monty is too focused on monkeys to care about his hair …_ Ron was reviewing the very short list when the figure taunted Kim.

"Possible-San, when your lackey, the gaijin, comes to trip his way into saving you," Fukushima let out a snort, "I shall have my henchmen take care of you, and the simian ninjas, him." Ron realized from the voice that his fears proved true. It was Fukushima that was breaking in and that with holding Kim hostage, he had the upper hand. Moving from shadow to shadow created from the lab lights, Ron began to speak, having his voice echo around the room, making it seem to the people and animals listening that he was everywhere and nowhere at once.

"It's too late for that plan to surprise me, you traitor." Ron's voice growled, sounding like he was in every part of the lab at once.

"Ha! Outsider, again your buffoonery comes to light, even when in dire circumstances!" Fukushima chuckled out loud. "I cannot believe that you gave away the element of surprise, when you could have attacked me and ended this. What would sensei think about your actions?" Fukushima said, mockingly shaking his head in a pitying fashion. During her captor's taunting of Ron, Kim's eyes widened in realization of what Fukushima was saying. '_Ron and this creep had the same master?'_ More questions popped into her head. _'Why does Ron call him traitor?'_ Suddenly, a kunai flew from the shadows toward Fukushima, passing a millimeter from his face, catching the mask, and ripping it off. The Kunai, with the mask attached, embedded itself into the lab wall with a splintering of the wall at the point of impact.

"Nice attempt outsider, but you should have taken the upper hand when you had the chance. Everyone, attack!"

On his order, a dozen henchmen came out of hiding and started to bull rush Ron, planning to pile on top of him. Ron palmed a grenade from his vest, pulled the pin, waited a few seconds, and threw it at the charging men. The airborne projectile hit the lead aggressor in the head. Sending him to the floor, the other guards were tripping over the prone body when the grenade landed in front of the pile, releasing knockout gas in copious quantities, putting them out of the encounter. Running from the incapacitated group, Ron palmed another grenade and ran toward the group of monkeys that were holding back Kim. As he was pulling the pin, Ron yelled out to Kim, "FLASHBANG!"

Realizing what this meant, Kim closed here eyes and covered her ears as Ron ran by and dropped the flash bang grenade near where Kim was. A violent discharge of sound and white light followed, disorienting and distracting the monkeys, but also deafening Kim in the process. Ron knew that Kim was out of trouble for the moment, and so Ron focused his attention on Fukushima and saw that he finally had the vault door open and was getting the cybernetic limbs out of storage. Ron was running up to Fukushima when he tripped over one of the spears that were thrown from the monkey ninjas. Skidding on the floor, Ron caught Fukushima's attention. Seeing how close Ron was to getting a free shot, Fukushima looked around to see Kim getting free and ready to put some hurt on his body. Smirking, Fukushima threw some shuriken to injure Kim, or if he was lucky, kill her.

Ron saw the action and the shuriken in flight. He kipped up and ran in front of Kim and throwing two of his own kunai. Instead of aiming for Fukushima, the two kunai hit different targets. One hit the power supply for the mainframe that was still downloading the cybernetic info and the other hit the alarm to bring the authorities. In a split second, Ron's back was facing Kim, a look of grim determination on his face which turned into a visage of pain as Kim heard three loud thumps. Ron slumped onto Kim, who wrapped her arms around Ron to hold him up. A wet feeling started at her forearms and travelled down to her hands. Slightly moving her head, Kim saw her hands coated with thick crimson blood.

Laughing at the condition of the gaijin and his girl, Fukushima and his cohorts exited the lab through the door, keeping their weapons trained on the pair of crime fighters.

"I recommend that he get medical attention soon, lest he succumb to the poison…" Fukushima said, leaving quick, fast, and in a hurry. Laying Ron down with the points of the ninja stars still protruding from his chest, Kim frantically keyed Wade up on her communicator.

"Kim! How's…"

"Get a medivac to the Lab now, Wade! Ron's down!" She then turned the Kimmunicator toward Ron's body to show what happened to Wade. "On their way!" Wade said, signing off.

Kim held her friends' body closer to her, hoping that Ron would pull through.

The first thing that Ron noticed as consciousness hit him was the overwhelming antiseptic smell in the environment. Next was the beeping from a random machine close by. Finally, it was the overwhelming amount of pain coursing through his body, specifically in his chest region that woke him up.

"Someone get the number of the mack truck?" Ron groaned out, only moving his head around. Opening his eyes, the subdued lighting in what he could only assume was a hospital was nice but he could not make out anything else. Seeing the IV tubes coming from each arm, Ron started to move to a sitting position.

"Ron, you're awake," a voice said on the other side of the room near the right corner, the moonlight hiding the feminine voice. But Ron knew from her scent. A fiery red mane shone like foxfire in the silver glow. Kim leaned forward, with concern in her eyes, and a frown on her lips.

"Don't speak, whatever Fuku-_whatsits_ coated the throwing stars with has evaporated. Wade couldn't isolate it, but you seem to have been able to shake it off. He also said that he trained with you. Who is this guy Ron?"

Leaning back into the bed, looking up into the white stucco ceiling, Ron recalled the transfer week that changed his life forever, and so he delved into his memory.


End file.
